WHAT THE F? former prisoners have to reimburse the cost of their jail stay? $249 per day? [View all]

[IcyPeas]

I had no idea this is a thing. I think this is outrageous. Where are these prisoners supposed to get that kind of money?

At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt
A few states have been amending or repealing “pay-to-stay” laws that require former prisoners to reimburse states for the cost of their jail stays, sometimes at daily rates exceeding what they would have paid to stay in a luxury hotel

All but two states have so-called “pay-to-stay” laws that make prisoners pay for their time behind bars, though not every state actually pursues people for the money. Supporters say the collections are a legitimate way for states to recoup millions of taxpayer dollars spent on prisons and jails.

Critics say it's an unfair second penalty that hinders rehabilitation by putting former inmates in debt for life. Efforts have been underway in some places to scale back or eliminate such policies.
...
Pay-to-stay laws were put into place in many areas during the tough-on-crime era of the 1980s and ’90s, said Brittany Friedman, an assistant professor of sociology at University of Southern California who is leading a study of the practice.

As prison populations ballooned, Friedman said, policymakers questioned how to pay for incarceration costs. “So, instead of raising taxes, the solution was to shift the cost burden from the state and the taxpayers onto the incarcerated.”
...
“The policy is to make one appreciate that your incarceration costs money,” he said. “The taxpayers footed the bill. They didn't do anything wrong. And knowing that one has to pay the state back a reasonable sum on a regular basis is not a bad policy.”

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/249-day-prison-stays-leave-inmates-deep-debt-88930478