In a move that has created a wave of outrage among families of Arizona state prisoners, those seeking criminal justice reform, and civil rights activists, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Arizona began charging adult visitors a fee of $25 each for a one-time background check.
The funds generated from the fee will actually be used toward repairing and maintaining Arizona’s 15 state prisons, not to pay for background checks. While imposing the fee may seen like a good idea now, some feel the consequences of the fee may be felt in the future.
Calling the new law that allows the state to dig into the pockets of relatives and friends of incarcerated individual “penny wise and pound foolish,” David Fahti, director of the ACLU’s National Prison Project, worries that the fee might prevent financially strapped family members from visiting an inmate, thereby severing family ties. Strong family ties, professionals in the reentry field have ascertained, are of paramount importance for a successful transition back into the community. Successful reentry also increases public safety.
In August one organization opposing the new law, Middle Ground Prison Reform (MGPR), of Tempe, filed a lawsuit against the Arizona Corrections Department, vowing to fight the new law. MGPR has also filed against a provision of the new law that allows the Arizona to charge inmates one percent on money deposited into their inmate accounts.
The chief of staff for the Arizona Senate, Wendy Baldo, claims that Arizona has a deficit of $1.6 billion, and that the state needs $150 million to fix and maintain buildings. The money collected for background checks would be spent on repair and maintenance, not on actual background checks, Baldo admits. Originally, the new law sought to collect $25 for background checks on all visitors, including children and babies. Now, only those over 18 years old will be charged.
In an economic downturn, $25 can mean a lot to an unemployed, or under employed person. Prisons are often located in areas far from an inmate’s home, and loved ones often have to travel many miles to visit. Added expenses might include gasoline, lodging and food. The burden of paying an extra $25 may cause some family or friends to put off a visit. If an adult caregiver of an inmate’s child cannot afford the $25 fee, the child may not be able to visit a parent until the caregiver comes up with the funds. MGPR director, Donna Leone Hamm, a retired lower court judge who married a former inmate, said that her organization could not find any other correctional system that charges visitors.
Families who do scrape together the fee have complained that they have difficulty sending the money through the (DOC) preferred method of a Western Union wire. One potential visitor who tried, and failed, to send money via Western Union, then sent a $100 money order for herself and three other visitors, only to have the money order disappear, despite confirmation by United Parcel Service that the package that contained the money order was delivered to the DOC. The woman who sent the money order had to send another one. After spending $200 and waiting for months, she now has to wait up to 60 days for approval to visit.
Although the huge expense of repairing and maintaining prisons is real, a more practical way of finding funds is to reduce the inmate population, some believe. Money that would ordinarily be spent on housing, feeding and providing medical care for inmates could be used for other purposes, including repairs, but also for education. For now, extorting $25 from innocent family members hoping to visit a loved one is the (im)practical solution to a multi-million dollar problem.
Source: Cure National
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