Prison Bankers Cash in on Captive Customers
This is the first in a two-part series examining how financial companies charge high fees to the families of prison inmates.
JPay and other prison bankers collect tens of millions of dollars every
year from inmates’ families in fees for basic financial services. To
make payments, some forego medical care, skip utility bills and limit
contact with their imprisoned relatives, the Center for Public Integrity found in a six-month investigation.
Megabanks Have the Federal Prison System Locked Up
This is the second in a two-part series examining how financial companies impose high costs on the families of prison inmates.
On Wall Street, Bank of America plays a perpetual second fiddle to
JPMorgan Chase & Co., the only U.S. bank that holds more assets.
A
few blocks north, however, at the New York Metropolitan Correctional
Center, there exists a market that Bank of America has locked down,
literally. For the 790 federal prisoners incarcerated at MCC, Bank of
America controls the provision of money transfers, e-messaging and some
telephone services.
The bank’s monopoly extends across the federal Bureau of Prisons system—121
institutions housing 214,365 inmates. Since 2000, Bank of America has
collected at least $76.3 million for its work on the program.
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