Florida Criticicized Over New $4 Monthly Fee On Inmate Accounts

[Judi Lynn]

Florida Criticicized Over New $4 Monthly Fee On Inmate Accounts

POSTED: 2:32 pm EDT August 2, 2004

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Prisoner rights advocates are criticizing the state for its new $4 monthly fee on inmates' spending accounts -- a fee that is charged even if a prisoner has no money.

Hannah Floyd, the wife of a death row inmate, and leader of the Florida Death Row Advocacy Group, said the fee is unfair, because it penalizes families and charities that contribute to inmate banking accounts. The fee, which prisons began collecting Friday, will generate $3.5 million annually for the state.

"The men are upset. Some of these guys are on a shoestring budget, trying to make it with close to nothing. If you have $10 a month to get by on and the state takes four, your whole budget totally collapses," Floyd said Monday in an e-mail.

All inmates at Florida's 56 prisons are required to have an account whether they shop at the canteen or have any money. Money gifts received by the inmate are deposited in the account as well as any money a prisoner might earn for working in prison industries. The inmates can then use the accounts to buy toiletries, such as deodorant, junk food, and some clothing, such as tennis shoes, not provided by the Florida Department of Corrections.
(snip/...)

http://www.wftv.com/news/3606491/detail.html

[gatlingforme]

1. That's real good, when the inmates make 30 cents /hr and that

is pretty good. It is a Bush thing I guess, The only thing inmates have to look forward to is the commissary. I am sure the riots will be starting shortly.

[eyesroll]

2. So, let me get this straight...

1. They're required to have these accounts, whether they want them or not.
2. Now, the state wants to charge them $4/month for maintenance of the account, whether they want the account or not, or whether there's even a balance. In other words, a mandatory $48/year fine for everyone.

This sounds like an extra punishment, being administered by the jailers instead of a judge or jury. I'm not trying to get all soft-on-crime here, but I thought the penalty for committing a crime -- including fines -- were determined in court.

[izzie]

3. Can't have them living high on the hog you know.

Does any one under stand that type of greed? Course our own President got a little tax put in to help a baseball team then he cleaned up millions on the deal. Greed is a live and well with these people.Guess who will be paying that tax for ever? Guess who has the millions?

[napi21]

4. I have a better idea!

The Fla. Treasurer should negotiate with the various banks licensed to operate in Fla. to provide "Debit Cards" to the prisoners. The prisoners could still use the cards at their commissary, and they could take advantage of the Free Bank Accounts already offered by the banks. The advantage to the bank would be pretty big. I have no idea how many prisoners there are in the Fl. prison system, but even though the deposits are small, they amount to a lot of money in the aggregate. Not only does everybody win, they would be working with a system that already exists and operates proficiently.

I'm sure it dies cost the State $4.00 a month per prisoner to maintain these accounts, but that's why you utilize an already established system. Even the State would benefit, in that they would eliminate the maintenence costs they currently incur.

[tom_paine]

5. The Return of Sharecropping. The Busheviks NEVER forgot THAT ONE

They used it in their Brutal South American Mining Comapnies (and the Tanzanian one they bulldozed all those people under for demanding better working conditions.

They used it when the Busheviks were Dxiiecrats and ran the South.

They are continuing to ramp it up for use against all of the Newly Minted Poor People Imperial Amerika is creating from a prosperous Middle Class.

OF COURSE, you'd see this spreading to all walks of life, like the rest of Bush Totalitarianism.