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How much do Ohio prisoners get paid?

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    Christopher Zoukis, a 27-year-old federal prisoner, is the author of Education Behind Bars: A Win-Win Strategy for Maximum Security (Sunbury Press, 2012), a contributing writer for Prison Legal News, and a regular commentator. on prison matters in the penal press. He has navigated the turbulent waters of incarceration in both federal and state prisons and at medium and low security levels for the past 8 years. Today I am sitting down with Mr. Zoukis to discuss the complex issue of how much money the family and friends of the detainees should send to the detainees. Randy Radic: In my role as Senior Editor at Middle Street Publishing and Editor-in-Chief of the Prison Law Blog, I often receive inquiries from inmates’ relatives and friends about how much money is appropriate to send to inmates. I find this question difficult to answer as it is very subjective. What do you think about how much money is appropriate to send to incarcerated friends and relatives? Christopher Zoukis: Subjective is certainly the word here. The first two questions for those outside of prison to ask themselves are: what prison system is your loved one or friend incarcerated in and what is the monthly or weekly prison spending limit (if any)? This should be the starting point for any determination of how much money is appropriate to send to an incarcerated loved one or friend. I have experience with the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the North Carolina Department of Corrections. Therefore, I can provide specific information on these two prison systems. At the Federal Bureau of Prisons, federal prisoners can spend $320 a month ($370 in November and December) on commission items. This does not apply to over-the-counter medicines, card copies or postage stamps. At the North Carolina Department of Justice, inmates can spend up to $40 a week in the institutional commissioner. Considering those numbers, as much as $320 a month for federal prisoners and $160 a month for North Carolina Department of Justice inmates would give them a very comfortable life. That would easily put them in the top 1 percent of inmates in their respective prison systems. Randy Radic: That sounds like a lot of money. Do all federal and state prisoners get this much from their families and friends? Christopher Zoukis: Absolutely not! Most prisoners receive no money from their family or friends. This is just the top tier by a reasonable amount; an amount of money that the prisoner could spend. Most don’t spend nearly as much money in their prison commissioner. I am presenting these numbers so that family members and friends of prisoners know what the parameters are. I would also like to point out that getting into any prison system can cost some money. Since most vendors are the same for all prison systems, you can imagine that an inmate will likely need at least $100.00 to get a sweatshirt, sweatpants, shorts, and sneakers. These are basic things that really make life that much more enjoyable. At $200.00, a newcomer could be well stocked with groceries, a radio, an MP3 player, and even better quality headphones. In many facilities, an inmate cannot even go to the gym in state boots. You can ask the inmate to send you a copy of the commission list to get an idea of ​​the prices. Randy Radic: Now that we know what can be spent, can you suggest a reasonable amount of money that a family member or friend can send to an incarcerated loved one or friend? Christopher Zoukis: In my experience, federal prisoners do well on $40 to $80 a month. While this doesn’t allow an inmate to buy all the groceries they want, it does allow them to buy toiletries, batteries for a radio (and the radio itself), an MP3 player (if the prison system allows it). for your shopping) and some amenities. To live comfortably, I would suggest an amount between $120 and $200 per month. This would allow for groceries virtually any day of the week and luxury items on demand, although not the maximum amount allowed in any given month. Obviously, for many, $100 to $200 is not a practical amount of money to send to an incarcerated family member or friend each month. As such, it must be conveyed that everything is useful. Even $20 a month can make a big difference in an inmate’s lifestyle. At least $20 a month allowed the inmate to buy soap, quality toothpaste (and a quality toothbrush), and batteries for his radio. Even a single $15 check could allow an inmate to purchase some amenities that would traditionally be unattainable. Literally anything can and will make a difference. Randy Radic: Prisoners are usually assigned a job where they can earn money for their efforts. How much money does a state or federal prisoner typically make from such work assignments? Christopher Zoukis: Not much. It’s certainly not enough to live comfortably. When I was incarcerated in the North Carolina Department of Justice, I had two very good jobs that put me in the top income bracket. One made me $14 a week at an NC Department of Transportation recycling facility, the other $7 a week working at my prison clothing store. But at the Federal Bureau of Prisons, I made between $5.25 and $7.40 a month as a facility attendant and $0.12 a month as a recreational attendant. If he wanted to, he could find a better-paying job now. I could probably find a job that would make me about $20-$30 a month, but that would pretty much be a full-time job. After several years of full-time employment, it is possible to move up the career ladder and earn more money. The top earners in a given department can make upwards of $100 a month, but for an entire federal penitentiary, there are typically only a handful of them. Aside from UNICOR workers, FCI Petersburg, a medium-security federal prison that houses about 2,000 inmates, probably only has about 15 inmates making that much money. Randy Radic: Are there other areas where inmates can spend money outside of the institutional commissioner? Christopher Zoukis: Yes, depending on the prison system. The North Carolina Department of Justice allows inmates to use phones to call friends and family. Beginning in 2008, when I was transferred from the North Carolina Department of Justice to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, inmates could only make group calls. As such, this did not come from the prisoner’s commissary/trust fund account. The Federal Bureau of Prisons is a different story. Federal prison inmates can spend money on the phone system, email service, and MP3 service. Federal inmates are allowed up to 300 minutes of phone time each month. At most, this can result in a total charge of $69 per month for long-distance debit card calls, which comes from the inmate’s trust fund account. Local calls have lower rates, and group calls are more expensive but are billed to the recipient of the call, not the occupant making the call. TRULINCS computers in the Federal Bureau of Prisons provide e-mail services and MP3 players. Email services cost inmates $0.05 per minute, and each email print costs $0.15 per page. Browsing MP3 song files does not incur any cost, but purchasing songs does. Song purchases range from $0.80 to $1.55 per song. Randy Radic: What would you recommend to families and friends of inmates to allow them liberal use of the TRULINCS telephone, computer email service and TRULINCS MP3 player service? Christopher Zoukis: That depends a lot on what you can afford and what your goals are. For $20 a month, your incarcerated family member or friend could buy around 15-20 MP3 files; the equivalent of a full CD. Telephone calls are a bit more difficult to quantify as there are different rates for long distance, local, debit and group calls. And email usage is very subjective, with some people preferring to spend maybe 5-10 minutes a day (if they can afford it) and others an hour or two a day. A fair amount would probably be $20 a month for MP3s, another $20 a month for email, and $30 to $40 a month for phone charges. That would allow the prisoner to make a few phone calls a week, send emails several times a day, and buy a music CD every month. Of course, the MP3 player currently available from the Federal Bureau of Prisons costs $69; Therefore, they would have to purchase this electronic device first before they could buy MP3 music files from TRULINCS MP3 streaming service. Randy Radic: It sounds expensive to be a federal prisoner. Are you suggesting that family and friends of federal prisoners send $70 to $80 in addition to funds for consignment purchases? Christopher Zoukis: It can certainly be expensive to be a federal prisoner, but remember that these are suggestions only and only apply if the federal prisoner will participate in these election programs. There is no way most federal prisoners own an MP3 player. Some do, but most don’t. Although virtually all federal prisoners have access to the TRULINCS/Corrlinks.com email service, I would suggest that most federal prisoners spend no more than a few minutes a day if they have the means. Therefore, many of the suggestions I have made may not apply to the federal prisoner in question. The first two components to consider should be the use of the commissioner and the phone. Families and friends of inmates should start their calculations there and then move to elective components when funds are available. Randy Radic: How do family and friends of federal prisoners deposit funds into an inmate’s escrow account? Christopher Zoukis: The Federal Bureau of Prisons allows individuals outside of prison to deposit funds into federal inmate trust fund accounts via Western Union, MoneyGram, and checks and money orders sent through the US mail to the National Lockbox in Des Moines, Iowa and MoneyGram allow near-instant deposits, but fees also apply. Therefore, those making deposits into federal inmate trust fund accounts should consider sending money via US mail and US money order. This leaves more money available to the federal prisoner, even if the delivery method is slower. Randy Radic: How can those outside of prison learn more about depositing funds into a federal inmate trust fund account? Christopher Zoukis: Those who have been released from prison can visit the Federal Bureau of Prisons website at https://www.bop.gov/. There they can learn about the various methods of depositing funds into a federal inmate’s escrow account. Randy Radic: In short, what is the minimum amount an inmate’s family member or friend must send, and how often? Christopher Zoukis: Times are tough in the United States. Foreclosures are forcing families onto the streets, jobs are hard to come by, and prisoners are being offered additional services that appear to incur additional fees. As such, not only is it understandable, but it is expected that raising additional money for incarcerated family and friends will be difficult. In that sense, anything can be useful. Families and friends of prisoners shouldn’t think that just one IV per month makes a difference. Don’t think about $50 or $100, think about $20. Twenty dollars here and there can make a world of difference to an inmate. If two or three people manage to send $20, then the prisoner is doing very well that month. That’s a few phone calls, a few commissioners, and maybe even a song or two on the MP3 playback service. The point is simple: give what you can afford. Your loved ones and incarcerated friends will appreciate anything you can afford. For them, $20 could mean the difference between staying hungry or full after a month. The power of satisfaction is what you have in your hands, nothing less.

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    The cost of a call home

    Prisoners buy phone credit which they can purchase in £1 increments through the canteen. While it’s officially recognized that staying in touch is important, the cost of a call from prison can be high. Calls to mobile phones – the only option for many inmates – cost 20.4p a minute on weekdays and 13.2p a minute on weekends at a recently inspected correctional facility. So a 30 minute call costs £6.12 during the week and £3.96 at the weekend. As a result, a top-income inmate could not afford to call his family twice a week for a total of one hour.

    1. There should be a review of inmate pay rates and money holdings, which have not changed since 1992 and 2008, respectively.
    2. Allowances for elderly inmates and other disabled persons should be reviewed and must provide sufficient income to cover new rental costs for televisions and other reasonable basic equipment.
    3. Compensation must be linked to performance and dedication to work, education or training and must not discourage the education or behavior of the worker offender.
    4. Inmates should not be charged an administration fee for catalog orders.
    5. National and international rates for phone calls from prisons should be reviewed to achieve parity with similar rates in the community.
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