How is the Financial Burden of Incarceration Distributed?

• In Event: The Financial Toll of Incarceration for Individuals, Families, and Communities

Abstract

While the entire country has experienced unprecedented, and in many cases sustained, increases in incarceration over the past five decades, some states and counties saw much greater and more rapid increases than others. A prison sentence has profound and long-term implications for the economic wellbeing of individuals and families and these impacts are felt most acutely in communities with the highest incarceration rates, exacerbating existing inequities in income and economic opportunity.

The authors draw on existing research and secondary data to estimate the costs associated with the incarceration of a family member. These costs include the impact of a prison sentence on lifetime employment and earnings, court/prison fines and fees, costs associated with homelessness and eviction, impacts on the earnings of partners, and the costs of caring for an incarcerated family member. These estimates are combined with regional data on prison releases to map the economic impact of incarceration, including those counties and states that have shouldered the disproportionate economic burden of mass incarceration.

Authors

• Jim Parsons, Vera Institute of Justice

• Erika Feeney, University of Maryland