US families shoulder nearly $350B in annual costs tied to incarceration, report finds

By Amanda Hernández, Stateline.org

U.S. families lose nearly $350 billion each year due to the incarceration of a loved one in jail or prison, according to a recent report from the criminal justice advocacy group FWD.us. The estimate includes both direct expenses and long-term losses in household income.

The findings are based on a national survey of just over 1,600 adults conducted in partnership with researchers at Duke University and the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.

Families reported losing an average of $1,803 in income per month when a loved one is incarcerated. That includes the loss of the incarcerated person’s wages and may also reflect reduced work hours by family members to manage court proceedings or provide child care, according to the report.

The researchers also found that families spend an average of $4,200 annually per incarcerated relative.

These expenses include phone and email communication, travel for visits, child care and commissary purchases — such as food, hygiene products and clothing — some of which are marked up as much as 600% above retail prices, according to the report.

The burden is especially acute for Black families, who reported significantly higher expenses, according to the report. Black families reported spending an average of $8,005 per year supporting incarcerated loved ones — 2.5 times more than white families with an average of $3,251.

One in 5 family members reported being forced to move due to a loved one’s incarceration, including 1 in 3 children of incarcerated parents, according to the report. Overall, 9% of family members said they experienced a period of homelessness, a figure that rose to 18% — or roughly 1 in 6 — among those who had an incarcerated parent.

Low wages for incarcerated people, often just cents per hour, only deepen this strain, leaving families to fill in the financial gaps, according to the report. Meanwhile, extended prison lockdowns, staff shortages and overcrowded conditions have further limited access to basic services, including phone calls, visitation, medical care and rehabilitative programming.

Researchers also identified long-term economic consequences after incarceration. Collectively, formerly incarcerated individuals lose an estimated $111 billion in wages each year due to limited job opportunities, according to the report. The report also found long-term financial consequences for children of incarcerated parents, who collectively lose $215 billion in annual earnings — an average of nearly $4,500 per adult child each year.

The survey has some limitations. Many of the cost estimates were self-reported and rounded by participants. Still, previous research has reached similar conclusions. A 2017 report from the Prison Policy Initiative, a nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization, estimated that mass incarceration costs governments and the families of incarcerated people at least $182 billion annually.

In 2023, the most recent year available, state governments spent more than $66 billion on corrections, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances. That total does not include the additional financial support provided by families of incarcerated people.

Preliminary national data from the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics shows the U.S. prison population is once again on the rise. At the end of 2023, there were more than 1.25 million people in state and federal prisons, a 2% increase from the previous year. The vast majority were serving sentences longer than one year and were held in state prisons.

The male prison population rose by 2% in 2023, while the number of incarcerated women rose by 4%. Still, both figures remain below their 2013 levels.

Researchers projected that if incarceration rates remain steady, families could face $3.5 trillion in cumulative financial losses over the next decade.

Stateline reporter Amanda Hernández can be reached at ahernandez@stateline.org.

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