Paying for Your Own Incarceration is Not Justice.
Across the country, incarcerated individuals incur significant financial costs while serving time that trap them in cycles of incarceration and debt.
Pay-to-stay fees: the harmful practice of charging people the costs of their own incarceration.
This includes both adults and youths held in jails, prisons, and youth residential facilities.
Pay-to-Stay fees include costs such as room and board, as well as medical copays.
These fees often force people to choose between spending the little money they have on calls to family, toothpaste and deodorant, or necessary medical treatments.
Incarcerated people, even those working full time in prison, typically earn just 13 to 52 cents per hour, if they're paid at all. That means even a $5 medical co-pay can be out of reach.
For incarcerated youth, who are typically unable to work, the full financial burden falls on their families.
In the majority of states, those who don't pay can be prosecuted, trapping them in cycles of incarceration and debt.
States and counties can also seize people's wages, inheritances, lawsuit settlements, and tax refunds to collect money that is owed.
48 states in the US allow for the imposition of at least one category of pay-to-stay fees.
Which charges are allowed in your state?
See our Research Report for our full data findings.
Type of pay-to-stay fees imposed:
State allows adult room & board fees
State allows youth room & board fees
State allows medical fees
State allows youth medical fees
Indicates a repeal of fees
Extent of fees allowed:
All fees allowed
Some fees allowed
No fees allowed
All Fee Types
48 states allow for the imposition of at least one category of pay-to-stay fees.
Categories include adult room & board, adult medical, youth room & board, and youth medical.
26 states explicitly allow for both room & board and medical fees for both adults and youths who are incarcerated.
Only the states of California and Illinois have repealed fees for all categories in state correctional facilities.
New Hampshire allows for the imposition of youth room & board fees only and has repealed the other three categories of fees.
All of the data is publicly available.
This map gives a general overview of Pay-to-Stay fees allowed nationally. For detailed information on how pay-to-stay policies are enacted in each state, refer to our Pay-to-Stay Harm Index. All of our data is publicly available.
Actual State Statute
New Mexico
(NM Statutes § 32A-1-19)
Whenever legal custody of an adjudicated child is vested in someone other than the child's parents, including an agency, institution or department of this state… the court may order the parents or other legally obligated persons to pay to the custodian in the manner the court directs…
Maine
(ME Revised Statutes Title 15, §3314)
Whenever the court commits a juvenile to a Department of Corrections juvenile correctional facility… it shall require the parent or legal guardian to provide medical insurance for or contract to pay the full cost of any medical treatment…
Arizona
(AZ Revised Statutes §31-238)
This state has the right to set off the cost of incarceration… at any time and without prior notice against any claim made by or monetary obligation owed to a person for whom a cost of incarceration can be calculated…
Florida
(FL Statutes §945.6037)
For each non-emergency visit by an inmate to a health care provider which is initiated by the inmate, the inmate must make a co-payment of $5… The co-payment for an inmate's health care must be deducted from any existing balance in the inmate's bank account.
Research & data reveal multiple compelling reasons to eliminate pay-to-stay fees.
"When I was inside, my family sent money orders, [...] 55% was taken away for fees."
Stories from Individuals Affected by Pay-to-Stay:
"B"
Male, 52
California
When I was inside, my family sent money orders, and a significant chunk, 55%, was taken away for fees.
"J"
Male, 44
Texas
While I was locked up, I was charged $100 for medical check-ups, whether it was an annual physical or something minor like a cold.
"T"
Female, 52
North Carolina
They might see you if you didn’t have money, but they’d take the money once you had it. If you left with a bill, it followed you.
Legislative Guide
Policy Demand: End Pay-to-Stay Fees
DOWNLOAD#EndPayToStay
We urge correctional systems and state & local governments across the country to explicitly ban pay-to-stay fees altogether and work towards dismantling the broader web of fines and fees in our criminal legal system that trap justice-involved individuals in cycles of incarceration and debt.