Washington state allows inmates to be billed for their incarceration
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Almost all states — including Washington — allow jails and prisons to charge incarcerated people medical and "room and board" fees, locking them into cycles of debt and possibly more incarceration, an Axios review of new exclusive data found.
Why it matters: The debt wheel targets the majority of the estimated 1.8 million people in state prisons and local jails, putting up more obstacles to escaping the poverty that oftentimes contributes to arrests in the first place.
Zoom in: Data collected by the advocacy group Campaign Zero, reviewed by Axios, found that 48 states in the U.S. permit the imposition of at least one category of "pay-to-stay" fees on incarcerated individuals as of December 2024.
- Washington is one of more than 40 states that explicitly allows for room and board fees for incarcerated adults, according to a review of statute language that clearly outlined the imposition.
- That's despite the Evergreen State repealing such fees for incarcerated youth in 2022.
Zoom out: Only California and Illinois have repealed fees for all categories in state correctional facilities.
The big picture: The fees raise hundreds of millions of dollars from victims' funds, DNA databases and other programs, but also help states expand efforts to incarcerate more people.
- Unlike other taxpaying constituents, introducing or raising fees on incarcerated people is rarely met with resistance.
How it works: Pay-to-stay fees are imposed during incarceration and automatically taken from individuals' wages or prison accounts.
- Because many incarcerated people can't fully pay fees while in prison, the costs often pile up as debt they're expected to repay after their release, Campaign Zero executive director DeRay Mckesson told Axios.
Dylan Hayre, who leads advocacy at the nonprofit Fines and Fees Justice Center, which works to eliminate fees in the criminal justice system, said the charges are "financial exploitation disguised as justice."
- "You've taken people at their most vulnerable and handed them a bill they can't pay. That debt destabilizes lives and entire communities," he said.
The intrigue: The study did not break down how the fees affected people of color in prisons and jails. But Mckesson said they are disproportionately hurt since they are overrepresented in the criminal justice system.