Banks, Prisons & Profits; JPAY

Its one heck of a hustle; to bilk the poor out of monies they send to prisons for their incarcerated loved ones. Who would'a thought that privatized prison management includes privatized money lending overseers who takes huge percentages off the top from monies meant for the someone in need? 

Talk about paying for a crime committed; this practice of taking from the poor, in some cases forcing families to use what amounts to a money laundering service, in order for an imprisoned family member to receive cash gifts from outside the prison is c-r-i-m-i-n-a-l. Some prisons no longer accept money orders, only money transactions processed through their designated financial firm.

Reminds me of a chrome plated license plate I once saw on a fancy car in Manhattan years ago; ¢RIME P8Y$

While many of us law-abiding citizens are focused on the criminal actions of offenders getting caught, prosecuted and jailed for crimes, most never consider the private businesses that prey on the imprisoned offender and their families.  Some might call it justice, but its a blind justice at best when you see poor families paying high fees to correctional institutions through their financial firm partners. 

I read an article today in the San Francisco Chronicle (Justice for all - if you have cash). In it, Columnist Jon Carroll speaks on the subject of private prisons and sheds light on JPay, a firm that handles financial transactions for the prisons.

Its a subject that needs to be dragged out into the light, analyzed and hopefully changed so that poor people in jail are not victimized by a system that we as tax paying citizens endorse. Let's educate ourselves and go after all criminals that prey on our system. 

Prison bankers cash in on captive customers

MegaBanks have the federal prison system locked up

Senator Questions Bank of America's No Bid Prison Deal

The Center’s report also noted that JP Morgan Chase & Co. issues high-fee payment cards to federal inmates when they are released. The cards contain inmates’ earnings from prison jobs and any leftover money sent by their families. JP Morgan holds a similar financial agency agreement with Treasury to provide the cards.

JP Morgan and Bank of America are the two biggest U.S. banks by asset size. Both have declined to comment on their deals with the Treasury Department.

The Center’s report was the second in a two-part series about prison bankers, companies that profit from inmates’ families through exclusive deals with prisons. The first part of the series detailed how JPay Inc., a Miami-based technology company, has gained access to 70 percent of U.S. offenders, and holds a monopoly on transferring money into prisons that house about 450,000 inmates.

I urge those not behind bars to educate yourselves about how the prison system of today is a private, for profit institution housing commodities that might someday be trading on wall street.  See who's getting richer and who poorer by a penal system that's embarrassing to label rehabilitative.

It's American tragedies like this that make Bernie Madoff and company look like Robin Hood and his merry men. The saddest thing about it is, for the incarcerated, it's an accepted reality of life in prison; and for the prison operators and their board members its just good Business practice, as long as it shows a profit.