Opinion Today: Come to jail with us. You’ll need a calculator.

The debt spiral we found isn't making society any safer.

View in browser|nytimes.com October 16, 2024 By Jonah M. Kessel Deputy director, Opinion Video "Yes, I have committed crimes to pay off debt." While the admission, to the Opinion Video team from a prisoner in Flint, Mich., wasn't entirely unexpected, what was surprising was the source of that debt: the criminal justice system itself. Some of it came from things like fines and restitution, the financial punishments those who commit a crime might be forced to pay. But more than a third of this prisoner's debt — around $10,000 — was the result of administrative fees. The public defender the Constitution guarantees? No one said anything about it being free. Costs vary from state to state and jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but it could cost you $1,500. Then there's the $40 filing charge. And don't forget about the $20 mandatory contribution to the jail medical fund. Need to call home once a week? At 14 cents a minute, those phone calls are going to add up to $4,368 over the course of a five-year sentence. Are you required to wear a monitoring bracelet when you get out? That comes with a grab bag of monthly fees, too. These administrative fees are omnipresent for people in the carceral system. And while they might seem small, they add up to what many experience as insurmountable debt. Some former prisoners are even dragged back to jail for failure to pay these debts. That's why this prisoner's admission was shocking. She committed a crime in order to pay off debt she had accumulated from being in jail. That landed her back in jail, where she will accumulate more debt. We've heard this story over and over: Prisoners feel trapped by debt. The fees are a punishment on top of a punishment. The Opinion Video producer Kirk Semple donned a point-of-view camera in the Genesee County Jail in Flint, Mich. Jonah M. Kessel/The New York Times We wanted to show this cycle. So we strapped a camera to the head of Kirk Semple, an Opinion Video producer, and sent him through the system, all the while calculating the costs he would theoretically accumulate along the way. You might be surprised by just how high that debt grew. The resulting video is a rare look inside the prison debt machine — at how expensive it is to be incarcerated and how predatory administrative fees are forcing many former prisoners into desperate situations, which isn't making society any safer. Watch the video: Grab Your Calculators. We're Going to Jail. Our criminal justice system is nickel-and-diming people at every turn, burying them in punishing debt. By Kirk Semple and Jonah M. Kessel More From Opinion Patrick Healy, Kristen Soltis Anderson and Adrian J. Rivera These 9 Women Were Solidly With Trump. Here's What Has Changed. The participants discuss how Kamala Harris's entry into the race changed — or didn't change — their thinking about the election. 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