WA debts

It is my belief that as a prisoner of the Washington Department of Corrections we are not eligible for a second chance at life. A brighter tomorrow for us is an impossibility. We are no longer human beings that have made mistakes, but are now the wheels of the juggernaut called the "Department of Corrections." I do not disagree that convicts owe a debt to society. May it be victim restitution or court cost, we all come here owing a debt that WE should be accountable for.

What I disagree with is the racketeering of funds sent by loved ones. Here in Washington we are forced to forfeit 35% of funds sent by loved ones. That money does not go to pay debts, but goes to pay "cost of incarceration," which I know for a fact tax payers are already forced to pay. This means that WDOC is getting paid twice by tax payers who have loved ones that are incarcerated. Is that fair?

The 35% deduction is only the tip of the iceberg here in Washington. Because if you have no loved ones to send you money to purchase soap, toothpaste, stamps, deodorant, and other necessary hygiene items your debt grows. If your wife can only afford to send you $50.00 once a year, and the rest of the year you are indigent you will have accumulated quite a debt. Now instead of a 35% deduction from the $50.00, it is a 55%. It is my opinion that the 35% deduction for cost of incarceration would and should include necessary hygiene items, but here at WDOC, it does not.

Further more, if you owe restitutions, which are called LFO's here at WDOC. Which stands for Legal Financial Obligations. If you owe "LFO's", an additional 15% will be deducted from all monies received. This brings us to a total of 70% of your once a year $50.00 money order from your wife.

Also, if you have child support they will deduct an additional 25%. In the end, if you owe all these debts, they will have deducted a total of 95% of funds that your loved ones send you. Out of a $50.00 money order that your wife works hard for, and that Uncle Sam has already taken his share of, you will have received $2.50. That is ridiculous. That is not a prisoner being held accountable for his debts. That is his loved ones being held accountable.

And as if that were not enough, WDOC is charging interest on prisoner debts. So if you come to prison here in Washington with a debt of $1,000 and you are serving 5 years in which you are forced to depend on hygiene provided by WDOC, your debt will be enormous by the time of your release. And the addition of interest charged just adds weight on the shoulders of those who already have nothing. In my eyes, this is enough to overwhelm anyone. But what can we do? Our cries from behind these walls are unheard.

Sincerely,

--Worried in Washington, November 2004

MIM responds: We thank this comrade for reporting the above information to MIM Notes but we encourage him not to feel hopeless. There is much we can do. Not only are policies like this affecting about $2 million incarcerated people in this country, but as the writer mentions, the families are also being victimized. That's millions of people both inside and outside prisons who can be organized around winnable battles like changing debt policies within the DOC.

But as the pages of ULK make clear, this is just one example of the type of problems prisoners are facing across the united $tates. The big problem is the fact that prisons are used as a tool of national oppression, not as a tool of the people that promotes rehabilitation and true restitution when crimes against the people were committed. So this is what we aim to change. We must eliminate a system that seeks to profit off of oppression. And we must build a society that meets the needs of its people by working in the best interest of all of humynity.