NORTHAMPTON, MA — Seven truths and elements of mass incarceration that expose the criminal legal system are facts that may be hard to believe, but they’re no “April Fools” and capture the harsh reality that affects millions, according to a recent report by the Prison Policy Initiative.
PPI claims prison and jail welfare funds do not benefit the incarcerated. Revenue is generated when phone calls and commissary goods are paid for within prisons, and they are supposed to be routed to “inmate welfare funds.”
However, a previous report by the Prison Policy Initiative revealed these funds are not utilized by prisons to benefit incarcerated people, but instead to “shore up their own operating budgets – or even to pay for perks themselves.”
The Prison Policy Initiative highlights the case of Dauphin County, PA, where a local paper exposed how officials had used “welfare funds” to splurge on the jail’s staff, including purchases such as fitness trackers and gun range memberships.
Fully one-third of prisons are built near toxic waste sites, said PPI, noting in its report that previous research warns the public against living near toxic wastelands—yet incarcerated people are not given a choice, as many prisons are located in close proximity to these unhealthy sites that put them at higher risk of developing serious health problems.
Many in jail pretrial are unable to afford bail, according to the Prison Policy Initiative, maintaining the average yearly income of those awaiting jail pretrial is just below $20,000, yet the median bail amount for felony charges is $25,000—easily keeping folks locked up in local jail by imposing bail.
As the Prison Policy Initiative states, “Women and Black people in jail have even lower incomes on average, making them even more vulnerable…which can very quickly lead to losing one’s job, losing custody of children, forgoing medical appointments,” noting how pretrial detention increases the likelihood of pleading guilty simply to get out jail.
Felony convictions bar people from certain professions, but not from becoming President of the U.S., notes the Prison Policy Initiative report, adding that while there are 19 million people in the U.S. with felony convictions, “…occupational licensing requirements…often explicitly include anyone with any felony conviction.”
As a result, millions of formerly incarcerated people end up with low-paying, unstable employment, “no matter the details of their conviction,” the Prison Policy Initiative states.
The Prison Policy Initiative stresses the following question in their report amid President Trump’s second presidential term: “If someone with a felony conviction isn’t barred from becoming president, why should they be barred from all of these positions that have far less power and responsibility?”
Mandatory drug tests place financial strain for people on probation, reported the Prison Policy Initiative citing a previous report that found “62 percent of those places (jurisdictions) require all people on probation to submit regular drug tests” even if their conviction does not involve drugs at all.
The PPI report also underlines the financial burden this places on those on probation, as the cost can reach up to $20 per drug test, “often multiple times a week.”
Some states fine incarcerated people for suicide attempts in prison, according to the PPI report, that noted prisons require copays to seek medical health, and some prisons fine incarcerated people for attempting suicide or self-harm.
The PPI report provides the example of the state of Virginia, where “corrections staff recently discussed financially penalizing people who self-immolated in protest last year.”
Fully 45 percent of all Americans, said PPI’s report, have a formerly incarcerated family member.
The Prison Policy Initiative cites FWD.us, reporting that 113 million adults in the U.S. have an immediate family member who has been locked up in the past, underscoring how common having a criminal record is—yet it continues to be highly stigmatized in today’s society.
“Making the criminal legal system fair and just is not something that impacts a select few; it’s directly relevant to our friends and neighbors,” the Prison Policy Initiative writes.
Along with these harsh realities are common misconceptions and myths about the criminal legal system, which the Prison Policy Initiative debunks in another recent report, Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2025.
