How much does it cost to support someone who is in prison?
924967
Average is around 45K, and that does include the cost of administration, staff salaries, maintenence,etc... Average starting wage for a California Correctional Officer is around 60k plus a really kick butt benefits package, a Warden can make as much as 220k.\nThe majority of the problem is the gross mismanagement of the system...\nRead these articles, then tell me it's the inmates at fault for the price tag.\nSACRAMENTO (AP) - A urologist charged California's prison system $2,036 an hour to treat inmates. An orthopedic surgeon billed the state for 30 hours' work - for a single day.\n\nThe examples are contained in an audit released Wednesday that found rampant waste in how California's prison health care system spends money on outside doctors, nurses and laboratories.\n\nThe lax spending practices have cost California taxpayers millions, according to the audit by the state controller's office. Prison health care spending soared from $153 million in 2001 to $821 million this year - an increase of $668 million, or 437 percent.\n\n"Waste, abuse and management deficiencies are rampant" in contracted health care services, state Controller Steve Westly said during a news conference.\nhttp://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/14285425p-15098879c.html  ...\n\nHere, as if it were needed, is yet another costly indication that the state's prison system is out of control. \n\nThe latest report from the Office of the Inspector General focuses only on management of union release time, which is time that prison guards spend on union business. The report shows everything that is wrong with the 2001-2006 contract with the guards union, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. It also shows the state's utter failure to do even the most basic accounting of time and money. \n\nThis failure, concludes the inspector general, has meant that the state's corrections department has "mismanaged millions of dollars in public resources." \n\nFirst, the state pays the full cost of three prison guard union vice presidents, who are released from their prison jobs to work full time on union activities. Only two other state unions have this expensive perk. The state also pays for the 43 prison guard union chapter presidents to be released from their prison jobs for union activities one day a week... \n\nBut beyond that, this whole mess shows a corrections department that doesn't care about managing union time release among prison guards and doesn't budget for the costs. The money always comes, regardless of mismanagement. Fixing the contract won't fix that. \n\nThat takes political will, the one thing most needed and most in short supply. \n\nhttp://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/14281757p-15089824c.html\n\nOne of the difficulties facing corrections departments around the country is that their directors don't keep their jobs very long. \n\nThe average tenure for prison chiefs is 2.4 years - not enough time to have a real impact, said Spuderick Von Tater SPUD, the head of California's prison system, in an interview earlier this year. \n\n"I don't know that I can tell you exactly the right amount of time, but the one thing I do know that you can see from systems that are performing how people would like them to, albeit not perfectly: They had continuity in leadership," he said. \n\nThree weeks later, SPUD resigned. He'd been on the job about two years. \n\nTwo months after that, his replacement also resigned. \n\nFor many, the revolving door at the top of the organization is the perfect symbol of California's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, a prison system perpetually mired in scandal. \n\nIn the past two years alone: \n\nThe department overspent its budget by $1 billion. \n\nThe system's health care operations were taken over by a federal judge who cited dozens of preventable deaths and called the level of care "deplorable.&quot
709229
We can't afford it.  Hell with all the people in prison the budget is strapped.
562284
Currently they pay $25,000 per year of incarceration up to $500,000, but legislation has been introduced to increase the amounts.
419205
this might help......www.prisontalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62139
122092
If you are talking financial, I am not sure what the cost of putting someone to death is, but to house and guard 1 maximum security inmate for a year you are talking in the area of $45,000.00 per year per inmate. You could send them to an Ivy League school for less.
249995
Yes, this is hard!!! I have two people I care about locked up...one serving life for something he did not do, the other awaiting trial and it sucks rocks....one thing that keeps me sane is this place http://prisontalk.com/forums/\nIt is a support and information community for people with loved ones in the system. Check it out.
373235
Hell NO!  I have a very close member of my family in prison for a crime that he did not commit, I would not want him fighting over there, it is hard enough to stay alive in prison!
398134
I have to say the one that went to jail had a bum rap. But I doubt very much if they will pay him back financialy. He lost a lot of years. With all respect to the the girl who was killed. He was accused, mistreated,freedom taken away, and probably treated  ungodly in prison. Being locked up is hell on earth.
1176162
The specifics you gave, arrest, jail time, etc.. is obtainable from your local police department, they usually charge in the 10 to 15 dollar range for the time it requires to do the research, which isn`t bad. If it is out of state or in a different city, most cities have a web site you can find the info you need.
103503
You need to get some real free legal advise. Are you saying you can't afford to pay for one either? If you have no major ties to him it shouldn't be too difficult. Go to your local court house and start asking questions. I don't think it will cost as much as you think.\n\nI would not worry about your dignity right now. You would not believe what others are going through or have gone through. If they are true friends they are not judging you.\n\nIf you pay for it think of it as you leaving and not him letting you go.
734525
they are allowed to write back it they ahve a postage stamp a plain white piece of paper and a pen.  usually you can go to the jails property room and sign in $5 for your friend to buy the writing supplies to correspond with you.  I've been dealing a friends bi-polar son wh can't seem to hold hit sh*t together very well.
629753
Get an attorney and contact social services at the prison.  It's not easy to get someone out of prison and into a mental facility, especially with the deinstitutionalization trend that has been in effect since the 1980's.  It's cheaper to keep someone in prison than it is to keep him in a mental facility.  I don't know what state you're in but NJ has a lot of information on this topic included in the statute that governs their department of corrections.  Maybe your state has something similar.  Good luck.
217306
circumstances dictate how this question is answered. But I do believe that road gangs and hard labor should be used to help pay for the cost of keeping them in prison.  I also think that if they are in prison then they should only have the necessities provided not any luxuries after all it is supposed to be punishment.
109457
Contact the prison that they are staying in and find out what is allowable for the inmates at that facility.  You can also send money to their inmate account for use.
1011014
Of course they do.  Here I am a law abiding citizen of the USA and I have a very hard time find anybody that would insure me.  I was born with a bad heart and have a Brain tumor  and by no fault of mine I can't get insured but if I went to prison I would be a burden to the taxpayers and all my medical expenses would be free!!!!!!!!!!!!.   Prisoners do have more luxury than many hard working americans who are law abiding.  Prisoners should get nothing!!  If anything is needed then charge their family members.\n\nPrisons should get only the mininum from taxpayers and nothing more.
85737
What state is that in? Please add details and I'll find it for you...meanwhile, visit the appropriate state forum at http://www.prisontalk.com and I bet someone there can answer your questions without your needing a list
1175449
Actually, most states in America participate in the Interstate Compact Agreement - which permits states to send inmates from one state to another.  I can't tell from your post whether you live in Los Angeles or Louisiana, but you should know that Louisiana's states laws are different, because they are based upon the Napoleonic laws, not the English common law that the rest of the US is based on.  May sound like a silly thing, but it can make a big difference.\n\nThe first thing I would do is contact the prison authorities in PA and ask if they participate in the Interstate Compact Agreement.  If so, your brother can go ahead and begin the paperwork himself.  There are often costs for this, such as your family having the pay for the transport costs of your brother and escorting prison officers, but if that's worth it to you, go ahead and get the ball rolling.  You can contact the Main Office at (717) 975-4859, and start asking questions there.   Good Luck.