The Federal Bureau of Prisons has pushed back against efforts to make inmates pay much more of their court-ordered restitution to crime victims, in part because the money they would use helps fund salary and benefits for hundreds of staff positions, reports the Washington Post.
Federal prisoner spending generates more than $80 million a year for the agency — mostly from profits on items like commissary purchases and phone calls. The agency earns interest from some accounts. In Justice Department discussions, senior prison officials argued that the agency should not dramatically increase the amount of prisoner money turned over to victims Any sharp uptick, the people described officials saying, would cut into a vital income stream at a time when the agency is understaffed.