Behind the Walls: A Guide for Families and Friends of Texas Prison Inmates

9. Money

57 Let’s talk about what got many of us in prison: money. First, TDCJ inmates are not paid. No matter how hard we work, for how many years, we do not receive a penny. Various groups have tried to convince Texas lawmakers to pay inmates a tiny daily stipend. Texas is one of only two or three states that does not pay its inmates. But it takes a courageouslegislatortotellhisconstituents,“Yes,Iknowtheseguysrobbed and raped and sold drugs and carjacked—I still think we need to pay them.” The legislator might be risking political suicide before he could explain the benefits of making sure that by paying inmates, you could ensure that many don’t come back. That would make paying inmates cost efficient, on both monetary terms and humanitarian grounds, because many of us would then not commit the murders and robberies that leave so many innocent victims in our wake. But those benefits are lost in the hazy, blood-red world created by prosecutors bent on convictions now in exchange for misery later. Let me explain. If you lock up a man for years on end, deny him a chance to use his skills or learn new ones, impress upon him that he is basically a life-long loser, then release him back into society without social skills, coping skills, relationship skills, and with fifty dollars in his money Chapter nine 58 Chapter Nine pocket: you are sorely mistaken if you believe that man, especially if he has no family to help, will be able to stay afloat and find a place in society. How will he buy food, clothes, pay two months rent—even two weeks rent plus a deposit—or have any money for a bus in order to go looking for a job, much less get to one, if he’s lucky enough to find one? The exceptional man may overcome these problems. But there are few exceptional men in prison, and even they need to eat. Texas could pay inmates one dollar a day; keep a quarter for a fund to pay victims of violent crime; charge inmates a quarter for rent; put aside a quarter to be paid to that inmate upon his release; and give him a quarter for his occasional purchases in the prison store. In five years, that inmate would have a little over four hundred and fifty dollars awaiting him; in ten years, almost one thousand. It may not seem like much, but it’s more than zero he has awaiting him now, and it could make a world of difference to the inmate on his own, trying to succeed. If he does less than five years, chances are he has not yet been institutionalized, has retained skills, has family support, and is not much of a threat to society, not yet. It is the long-term convict, the older inmate, who needs the assistance. For every inmate who does not return, Texas saves thirty thousand dollars a year, the amount the state claims it costs to incarcerate that inmate. And of course, for every inmate who makes it on parole, there is at least one less victim. But that’s in the future, if ever. Today, for an inmate to have money, it must be mailed from the outside. It is deposited in the Inmate Trust Fund, a non-interest bearing account. Every inmate has an account, under his TDCJ number. He is allowed to spend a certain amount every two weeks. (See chart in Appendix D.) He can spend it all at one time, in one trip to the commissary, or depending on how often a unit allows inmates to go to the store—some allow almost unlimited trips, some only one trip a week—he can spend as little as he wants. Inmates are not allowed cash. Do not ever send cash to inmates or try to give them cash. If inmates have cash they will be charged with major disciplinary infractions and be severely disciplined. If you wish to send an inmate money, buy a money order. Postal money orders are the best, although any money order from a reputable business will work. Do not make the money order out to the inmate. Make it out to the Inmate Trust Money 59 Fund. Put the inmate’s name and TDCJ number in the blank that says “For” or, if by chance the money order...