NCLC submitted comments, co-authored by the Prison Policy Initiative and Stephen Raher, in response to the Bureau of Prisons’ (“BOP”) Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“SNPR”) on the Inmate Financial Responsibility Program (“IFRP”). The IFRP is a nominally voluntary program in federal prisons that is intended to encourage incarcerated people to pay off outstanding government-imposed criminal justice debt, or “legal financial obligations” (“LFOs”).
In these comments, we first identify major deficiencies in the data relied upon in the SNPR. We explain how the reliance on inadequate data in developing the proposed rule results in unreasonable seizure rules that fail to protect basic subsidence needs for incarcerated people (Part I).
Second, we explain why the proposed rule would have the unintended effect of undermining public safety by eroding community support systems and financial resources available upon release that have been shown to support successful reentry (Part II).
Third, we discuss our concerns with several specific aspects of the SNPR and recommend alternatives (Part III). Most significantly, we express our objection to the SNPR’s proposal to seize funds that incarcerated people’s loved ones send them, including on the ground that the Bureau lacks statutory authority for such seizures (Part III.A). We also recommend that the Bureau eliminate several of the SNPR’s seizure schedule provisions in favor of a final rule that adopts a more reasonable and easy-to-administer approach based on the Federal Poverty Level (Part III.B). We then recommend changes to the SNPR’s garnishment provision (Part III.C), recommend the Bureau use the IFRP only for restitution (Part III.D), and recommend changes that would better facilitate reentry (Part III.E). We conclude this section by recommending the Bureau put interest accrued from incarcerated people’s funds toward their LFOs (Part III.F).
Finally, we summarize the benefits of our proposed approach as compared to the SNPR (Part IV).
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