Transcript
CALIFORNIA INMATE PAY RATE SCHEDULE One would think that it is well past the time for a increase in prisoner pay rates in the CDCR? I would say yes, however Prisoncrats and Legislators naturally would say no! Never the less, lets examine the facts that over the years have come into play. When one considers the fact that the Department over the past 25 plus years have been authorized in several ways to dig deep into your meager resources and your family and friends wallet! In fact the most significant in our mind is the one instituted back in about 1998 the Amendment of 15 OCR Article 1.5 “Inmate Wage and Deductions" section 3097. “INMATE RESTITUTION FINE AND DIRECT ORDER COLLECTIONS" which up until the amendment was basically 20% Twenty Percent with the Department Collecting 10% of that amount as a 2% processing fee resulting in the CDCR collecting a total of 22% Twenty-Two Percent being deducted from a prisoners inmate trust account. The CDCR was then authorized to increase the deductions from 20% to 30% and the CDCR according was able to increase their take from 2% to 3% through December 31, 2004 at which time the the CDCR was again each successive year to raise the restitution deduction amount to 40% (44%), then 50% (55%) in which their take also increased which is quite lucrative in view of the data relative to the amount of restitution collected being $190,000,000 Million Dollars which means that the CDCR earned over $38,000,000 Million Dollars via automated deductions from prisoner trust accounts, particularly in view of the fact that the CDCR has a State Budget that's over $9,000,000,000 Billion Dollars per year! Now when one considers that the automated system of accounting does all of the work except the initial input of financial data relative to funds received by prisoners. Now that is only part of the problem I see, and it stands out in my mind because it has never never changed irrespective of the multiple assessment increases levied upon prisoners accounts, that is the MINIMUM & MAXIMUM HOURLY PRISONER PAY RATES!!! All across the Nation, State and Federal minimum wages have increased! Even the safety-net Social Programs provide for cost of living increases with the periodic (Continued P 3)
