Where do the billions of dollars prisons rake in from phone calls and commissary purchases go? “Inmate Welfare Funds,” designed to cover non-essential items that benefit incarcerated people. But officials frequently exploit these funds for their own benefit.
This exploitation is especially blatant in jails, where many are incarcerated because they cannot afford bail. For example, in Pennsylvania’s Dauphin County Jail, $45,000 rightfully went to library books, program supplies, and recreational equipment.$800,000 went to faculty maintenance.
Another $1.6 million was spent on staff, for things like bodycams, gun range memberships, uniforms, and “employee appreciation meals.” According to a report from the Prison Policy Initiative, “Prisons sometimes sit on heaps of money while jails treat themselves to shopping sprees for bullets, break room supplies, and gift cards for honey-baked hams.”
Transparency and oversight methods to regulate spending aren’t specified in a third of prison systems. Many incarcerated people don’t even know that funds exist for them. Logically, incarcerated people could receive regular updates, and even vote on how the funds can be used.
But the power imbalance between incarcerated people and prison authorities makes that solution effectively impossible. Ethically maintaining welfare funds to avoid exploitation can’t sustainably happen within an inherently exploitative system. If we imagine bigger and look towards an abolitionist future, how can budgets and funds like these be reallocated within our communities?