HELP US END MASS INCARCERATION The Prison Policy Initiative uses research, advocacy, and organizing to dismantle mass incarceration. We’ve been in this movement for 23 years, thanks to individual donors like you.

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Graph showing the pre-incarceration incomes of people who are unable to afford bail with people of similar ages who are not detained, for both men and women. The median bail amount is $10,000; and people detained pre-trial tend to be poor with annual incomes not far above that median bail amount.

Data Source: For detailed data notes, see our report Detaining the Poor: How money bail perpetuates an endless cycle of poverty and jail time. (Graph: Wendy Sawyer & Peter Wagner, 2022)

This graph originally appeared in Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2022.

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