Release Cards
All too often, prisons and jails partner with private companies to charge people released from custody for the privilege of accessing their own money. Until recently, when a facility wanted to return money to someone upon release — money that was in that person's possession when arrested, money earned working in the facility, or money sent by friends and relatives — the facility would give cash or write a check. Now a growing number of prisons and jails are issuing pre-paid debit cards that eat up the meager balances with high fees.
Report
Insufficient funds: How prison and jail “release cards” perpetuate the cycle of poverty
by Stephen Raher, May 3, 2022
When we first looked at these cards in 2015, they were relatively new. Since then, they’ve become ubiquitous. We examined release card companies' fee structures to learn how this industry has evolved, and what government leaders can do to stop its worst practices.
Release card contracts:
We've made our collection of release card contract documents public. Search them to see what companies are profting in your area.
Model reform legislation:
- Release card legislation for states
Our sample legislation bans release card fees and requires that incarcerated people be given the option to have their funds returned by cash or check.
Related articles:
- The CFPB's enforcement order against prison profiteer JPay, explained by Wanda Bertram, October 28, 2021.
The company was fined $6 million for exploiting people leaving prison. - CFPB housekeeping risks release card protections by Stephen Raher, August 15, 2017.
We urge the CFPB to keep release cards in mind when revising regulations so they don't unintentionally undermine their own reforms. - A partial victory: release cards included in CFPB's new regulations by Aleks Kajstura, October 5, 2016.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new regulations increase protections for people released from prison and jail, who are often forced to use release cards. - Comments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, March 18, 2015
PPI submits a comment to the CFPB urging regulation of high-fee release cards.
- Will the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau protect the public from high-fee "release cards"? by Aleks Kajstura, February 6, 2015.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will soon revise its rules for debit card regulation. We explain why the CFPB should include "release cards" for people leaving prison in its new rules.
Press coverage
- What Gate Money Can (And Cannot) Buy, by Mia Armstrong and Nicole Lewis, The Marshall Project, September 10, 2019
- Fees, fees and more fees: the high cost of being a Georgia prisoner, by Ashley Soriano, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 31, 2019
- Lawsuit reveals how tech companies profit off the prison-industrial complex, by Katie Rose Quandt, ThinkProgress, February 9, 2018
- The Financial Firm That Cornered the Market on Jails, by Arun Gupta, The Nation, August 1, 2015
- Menendez Joins Booker, Colleagues in Urging CFPB to Protect Formerly Incarcerated from Predatory Prison Prepaid Cards, November 3, 2015
- How private bankers cash in on released prisoners, by German Lopez, Vox, November 3, 2015
- Chase Bank Accused of Gouging Ex-Inmates, by Andrew Thompson, Courthouse News Service, September 14, 2015
- 'Release cards' turn inmates and their families into profit stream, by Amadou Diallo, Al Jazeera America, April 20, 2015
- Lack of choice on high-fee inmate debit cards draws widespread criticism, by Daniel Wagner, The Center for Public Integrity, March 25, 2015
- Inmates Charged Fee After Leaving Jail, by Herb Weisbaum, NBC News, March 24, 2015
Recommended Reading:
Tracking Trump's criminal legal system moves
The Administration is making America's criminal legal system harsher, less effective, and even more unjust.
Research Library
We curate a searchable database of 4,000+ original research reports, organizing each entry by topic and adding brief summaries.
Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie
The U.S. incarcerates nearly 2 million people. Where are they locked up and why? Read our report.
Bad Behavior
This national report explains how prison disciplinary policies manufacture misconduct and severly punish incarcerated people.
Events
- June 19-22, 2025:
Wanda Bertram, the Prison Policy Initiative’s Communications Strategist, will be at the Investigative Reporters & Editors conference in New Orleans. To connect with Wanda at the conference, reporters can email her directly at wbertram@prisonpolicy.org.
Not near you?
Invite us to your city, college or organization.