People Over Profit: The Case for Abolishing the Prison Financial System

California Law Review

In “People over Profit: The Case for Abolishing the Prison Financial System,” Sean Kolkey discusses a form of prison economic exploitation, typified by fee-laden debit release cards and exorbitant money transfer fees. He argues that the prison financial system must be abolished and proposes a community-centered alternative to the existing system that centers economic power within the communities mass incarceration disproportionately impacts. Author: Sean Kolkey is a J.D. candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. Host: Carter Jansen Technology Editors: NoahLani Litwinsella (Volume 110 Senior Technology Editor), Carter Jansen (Volume 110 Technology Editor), Hiep Nguyen (Volume 111 Senior Technology Editor), Taylor Graham (Volume 111 Technology Editor), Benji Martinez (Volume 111 Technology Editor) Other Editors: Ximena Velazquez-Arenas (Volume 111 Senior Diversity Editor), Jacob Binder (Volume 111 Associate Editor), Michaela Park (Volume 111 Associate Editor), Kat King (Volume 111 Publishing Editor) Soundtrack: Composed and performed by Carter Jansen Article Abstract: The term “mass incarceration” is used to describe a crisis that, to many, is both abstract and distant. But for Black, Latinx, Indigenous, low-income, and other communities whose lives are disproportionately affected by the criminal legal system, the reality of carceral exploitation is as unavoidable as it is harmful. Incarceration has always had economic ramifications, but the modern prison has become an amalgamation of public and private interests that increasingly treat incarcerated individuals and their communities as a source of profit. In a matter of decades, prison finance has become a billion-dollar industry concentrated in the hands of powerful corporate interests, and it overwhelmingly preys on historically marginalized and low-income communities. The advent of the digital economy has opened a new dimension of economic exploitation, typified by fee-laden debit release cards and exorbitant money transfer fees. In light of these increasingly exploitative practices, documenting the full extent of financial exploitation within the prison system is an immensely difficult task. Ending it is even harder. Despite persistent efforts to reform prison finance through litigation and regulation, the problem is getting worse—not better. This Note argues that the prison financial system is beyond repair and that it must be abolished. To that end, this Note proposes a community-centered alternative to the existing prison financial system that reclaims the economic power seized by the carceral state and relocates it within the communities that mass incarceration has disproportionately impacted. Though it is only one part of the broader project of prison abolition, the proposed alternative addresses an aspect of the criminal legal system that is often overlooked. Doing so represents a concrete step towards the eventual dismantling of the prison industrial complex. A Note About Language: The words that we use to describe people who have come in contact with the criminal legal system play a foundational role in our own conception and, by extension, our society’s treatment of these individuals. While terms like “inmate,” “ex-convict,” and “prisoner” are widely used and recognized, they carry an inseparable connection to physical spaces that many people view with fear and contempt. Though linguistically convenient, this connotation reinforces harmful ideas and attitudes towards some of the most marginalized members of our communities. As such, this Article identifies people who have come in contact with the criminal legal system by their names when possible and in other instances refers to them as “incarcerated” or “formerly incarcerated” individuals. (For a more thorough discussion, see Victoria Law & Rachel Roth, Names Do Hurt: The Case Against Using Derogatory Language to Describe People in Prison, Rewire News Grp. (Apr. 20, 2015).