yet another wealth extraction plan with the poor carrying the burden... how about just stopping the war on the poor and black?

Think Progress | Massachusetts’ Plan To Force State Prisoners To Pay Room And Board Will Do Far More Harm Than Good

It takes a lot of money and resources for prisons and jails to run as smoothly as possible. Administrators have to cover the costs of food, beds, healthcare, inmate programming, employee salaries and benefits, security, and maintenance. A survey of 40 states determined that, on average, states spend $31,286 a year to incarcerate one person. The hefty price tag is one motivating factor behind some states’ efforts to reform their criminal justice system and do away with harsh sentencing.

Two lawmakers in Massachusetts are taking a different approach to the cost. Massachusetts currently spends at least $53,000 a year on every inmate — $1.2 billion in total. On Tuesday, the senate minority leader proposed a bill that would make 10,000 prisoners bear some of that financial burden.

Under Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr’s (R-Gloucester) latest proposal, inmates would have to pay $2 a day for their food and housing. They would have two payment options: coughing up the money after they re-enter society or using money earned through prison labor. Those who are pregnant, mentally ill, can’t leave their beds, or are considered indigent by the state would not have to pay.