2026
Research & Resources
Explore research, media, and advocacy tools which reveal how pay-to-stay operates and affects lives.
Research
2024
Reforming the Shadow Carceral State
View PDF2025
Economies of Violence: Pay-to-Stay and the Value of Incarcerated Bodies
View PDF2022
The "Damaged" State vs. the "Willful" Nonpayer: Pay-to-Stay and the Social Construction of Damage, Harm, and Moral Responsibility in a Rent-Seeking Society
View PDF2021
"Like if you Get a Hotel Bill": Consumer Logic, Pay-to-Stay, and the Production of Incarceration as a Public Commodity
View PDF2020
Who pays for the welfare state? Austerity politics and the origin of pay-to-stay fees as revenue generation
View PDF2021
Unveiling the Necrocapitalist Dimensions of the Shadow Carceral State: On Pay-to-Stay to Recoup the Cost of Incarceration
View PDFIn the media
Undated
Exploitation Nation - A new Substack & Apple podcast affiliated with the Captive Money Lab
Read and listen nowJul 29, 2025
The hidden bill of incarceration: How Black women bear the brunt of 'pay-to-stay' policies (The Grio)
Read nowMay 2, 2022
Forcing people to pay for being locked up remains common (Washington Post)
Read nowMar 4, 2022
The vast majority of states allow people to be charged for time behind bars (NPR Morning Edition)
Read nowAug 29, 2022
At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt (Los Angeles Times)
Read nowUndated
Jay Learns Who Really Pays for Prison Time (The Untold Story: Criminal Injustice with Jay Ellis and Travon Free)
Read nowAdvocacy
2022
Congressional testimony for Connecticut Judiciary Committee public hearing on H.B. No 5390 - An Act repealing statutory provisions that impose liability on an individual for repayment of costs incurred when the individual was incarcerated (2022)
Read now2023
Opposition to Bureau of Prisons' proposed amendment to 28 CFR 545 regarding the Inmate Financial Responsibility Program (IFRP) (2023)
Read now2021
"Pay-to-Stay and Socioeconomic Inequality." U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary Special Hearing "A Fine Scheme: How Court-Imposed Fees and Fines Unjustly Burden Vulnerable Communities." Testimony on Court-Imposed Fees and Fines Before the House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security (2021)
Read now
