Banks Profit from Captive Customers in Prison

In recent years the cost of incarceration has increasingly been shifted to inmates and their families. But if you have a family member in prison, sending them money to pay for basic necessities like toilet paper and warm clothing often comes with high fees. Daniel Wagner, investigative financial reporter at the Center for Public Integrity, examined the ways in which financial companies like JPay and Bank of America profit from money transfers to prisoners. Wagner has investigated how financial companies impose high costs on the families of prison inmates in his articles "Prison Bankers Cash in on Captive Customers" and "Megabanks Have Prison Financial Services Market Locked Up."

How far does $120 go when sent to a Virginia prison inmage?

(Illustration by Colin Owens/Center for Public Integrity)