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 25 years, thanks to individual donors like you.
Can you help us sustain this work?
Thank you,
Peter Wagner, Executive Director Donate
Can you help us sustain this work?
Thank you,
Peter Wagner, Executive Director Donate
Poverty & wealth
- The benefits of guaranteed income for formerly incarcerated people extend to their families and communities (Created: 2026)
- Guaranteed income for formerly incarcerated people increases likelihood of full-time employment over time (Created: 2026)
- Guaranteed income for formerly incarcerated people results in lower rates of recidivism (Created: 2026)
- Most people in prison are poor, and the poorest are women and people of color (Created: 2026)
- Copay exemptions are surprisingly rare for some of the most basic types of medical care (Created: 2025)
- In more than one-third of prison systems, the fee for a single medical visit is more than incarcerated people earn in a week (Created: 2025)
- Of those who are jailed, unhoused people are more likely to be booked into jail multiple times in a year (Created: 2024)
- Most jurisdictions require people on probation to pay monthly fees and other costs of supervision (Created: 2024)
- The most vulnerable people in prison often do not receive the medical care they need (Created: 2024)
- Economic inequality has grown in lockstep with mass incarceration (Created: 2024)
- Many people in jail are there simply because they can't afford money bail (Created: 2024)
- People who experience homelessness are arrested at extremely high rates in Atlanta — and largely for being poor (Created: 2023)
- Across sex and race, people on probation and parole have lower incomes than the general population (Created: 2023)
- Incarcerated parents often grew up in struggling households (Created: 2022)
- Before incarceration, people in state prisons struggled disproportionately with unemployment and homelessness (Created: 2022)
- Early experiences of homelessness and poverty among the 29 transgender respondents (Created: 2022)
- Formerly incarcerated people earn far less than the general population (Created: 2022)
- Formerly incarcerated people face alarming rates of joblessness (Created: 2022)
- Many prisons are still charging medical copays during COVID-19 (Created: 2022)
- Formerly incarcerated people are twice as likely to experience food insecurity (Created: 2021)
- Most people with a history of incarceration and homelessness were homeless before going to prison (Created: 2021)
- Black people in Connecticut are disproportionately impacted by homelessness and incarceration (Created: 2021)
- Incarceration and wealth accumulation, by race & ethnicity (Created: 2020)
- Most people in prison are poor, and the poorest are women and people of color (Created: 2020)
- High imprisonment communities have higher unemployment rates (Created: 2020)
- High imprisonment communities have higher poverty rates (Created: 2020)
- "Frequent utilizers" of jails often face extreme economic disadvantages (Created: 2019)
- Misdemeanor warrants dropped by over 20% in one year after Texas passed fines and fees reform (Created: 2019)
- People on probation are much more likely to be low-income (Created: 2019)
- Annual prison commissary sales in Washington, per person (Created: 2018)
- Annual prison commissary sales in Illinois, per person (Created: 2018)
- Annual prison commissary sales in Massachusetts, per person (Created: 2018)
- Annual prison commissary sales in three states (Ill., Mass., Wash.), per person (Created: 2018)
- Making health care unaffordable has many hidden costs (Created: 2017)
- Timeline of probation service fees charged in Massachusetts (Created: 2016)
- Lower income communities have higher probation rates (Created: 2016)
- Distribution of annual incomes for people in local jails unable to meet bail (Created: 2016)
- People in jail are poor, unable to meet bail (Created: 2016)
- Distribution of monthly incomes for men in local jails and non-incarcerated men (Created: 2016)
- Distribution of monthly incomes for men unable to meet bail and non-incarcerated men (Created: 2016)
- Distribution of monthly incomes for women in local jails and non-incarcerated women (Created: 2016)
- Distribution of annual incomes for incarcerated men prior to incarceration and non-incarcerated men, ages 27-42 (Created: 2015)
- Distribution of annual incomes for incarcerated women prior to incarceration and non-incarcerated women, ages 27-42 (Created: 2015)
- Distribution of monthly incomes for incarcerated men prior to incarceration and non-incarcerated men, ages 27-42 (Created: 2015)
- Distribution of monthly incomes for incarcerated women prior to incarceration and non-incarcerated women, ages 27-42 (Created: 2015)
- Incarcerated people earn substantially less prior to their incarceration than their non-incarcerated counterparts (Created: 2015)
- Poor people have less access to high-speed internet and computers at home (Created: 2015)
- The poor, not the rich, are most often the victims of burglary (Created: 2012)
- Salaries for California teachers and correctional officers, 1996 (Created: 2003)
- Minimum wages in the United States, in Haiti and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (Created: 2003)
- Burglaries per 1,000 households, by income level (Created: 2003)
Events
- November 18-21, 2026:
Members of our Research team, will be attending the American Society of Criminology annual meeting in Chicago from November 18th through the 21st. Please reach out if you’d like to set up a meeting.
Not near you?
Invite us to your city, college or organization.