At our Recidivism Reduction event at the end of May, the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Robert Buckland announced an increase in the severance pay from £46 to £76 for the first time since 1995. Renamed ‘one-off payment of Subsistence” is money paid upon release from prison for essential necessities and comes into effect today. The revised grant is part of what the Lord Chancellor has described as a “total approach that includes a home, a job, a friend” which is a much-needed focus on the support needed by those released from prison.
After years of lobbying in the criminal justice industry, this is good news and will make all the difference in those crucial first hours and days after release. How do we know? This is what our employees and service users tell us. At Nacro, we listen to our employees and service users about what works, what doesn’t, and what would change their lives. Persistent issues raised by staff and service users include: lack of financial resources on layoff for essential services, including high-low subsidies; the need for housing; and the need to improve communication. We continue to focus on these things.
Option: Account Closure After Opt-Out Period
After the grace period has expired, the cardholder may request account closure and receive a refund by check. Seventeen share cards (all managed by Numi Financial) charge a hefty $9.95 for this service, meaning anyone with less than $10 in balance can’t use this option. Someone with a $50 balance can use this option, but effectively has to pay a 20% fee for a very basic transaction.
Some cardholders can transfer their funds to a bank account. Two of the three dominant brands of exemption cards (Access Corrections and Numi) appear to allow cardholders to transfer their funds to a bank account without paying a fee.3 However, the companies don’t provide many details on this, apart from directing consumers to the website of the program administrator. While this can be helpful for cardholders with bank accounts, most people who have been released from long prison sentences do not have a bank account, making this option unavailable to them.
Withdraw Good Time Awards:
- If a person suffers a misconduct before good time is awarded, the BOP may serve more time in prison.
- When counting the person’s good time from previous years, the BOP can still take the good time. Administrators determine that the individual engaged in serious misconduct that disrupted the security of the institution, such as: a riot or a food strike.
- The BOP may revoke a previously awarded good time if administrators later determine that the inmate has committed disciplinary infractions in a year in which the good time was already awarded.
People who want to get the maximum amount of good time in federal prison don’t have to do anything particularly “good” or meritorious. They simply must avoid disciplinary violations and enter the GED program unless they can prove they have a high school diploma or equivalent.