In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, pay-to-stay is the practice of charging

prisoner A prisoner (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison. ...

s for their accommodation in jails. The practice is controversial, because it can result in large

debt Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The ...

s being accumulated by prisoners who are then unable to repay the debt following their release, preventing them from successfully reestablishing themselves in society. In 2015, the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

of Ohio published a comprehensive study of the pay-to-stay policy throughout the state of

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, the first detailed study of its kind. In 2017, The Marshall Project published a study of jails in Southern California, where wealthier prisoners could pay to be housed in a more comfortable, safer prison in a different jurisdiction, sometimes with more furlough privileges. The facilities are located in Seal Beach, Anaheim, Arcadia, Burbank, Glendale, Huntington Beach, Pasadena, Santa Ana and Torrance. These prisons offer many benefits, including private cells, less violence and even the opportunity for convicts to serve their sentence only on weekends or after work. In modern times pay-to-stay programs have been noted for their low debt collection rate that often range between 10 to 15 percent due to people being in pay-to-stay being much more likely to suffer from poverty; over a two fiscal year period,

Eaton County, Michigan Eaton County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 109,175. The county seat is Charlotte. The county was organized in 1837 and was named for John Eaton, who was Secretary of War under ...

collected only around 5% of over $1 million charged in pay-to-stay fees.

History

In an NPR interview Lisa Foster the leader of an anti-pay to stay advocacy group Fines and Fees Justice Center stated that Pay-to-stay programs in the United States became popular in the 1980's following large increases in

Incarceration in the United States Incarceration in the United States is a primary form of punishment and rehabilitation for the commission of felony and other offenses. The United States has the largest prison population in the world, and the highest per-capita incarceratio ...

and law enforcement agencies attempting to increase revenues following federal spending cuts in local law enforcement programs. As of 2021 prisons in about 40 states have a pay-to-stay programs with fees and implementation often varying by

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

References

Penology {{US-law-stub

History

See also

References