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A26 u.s. news
Dialuna 29 augustus 2022

At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) mains unfair even after the
— Two decades after her amendments.
release from prison, Te-
resa Beatty feels she is still Beatty acknowledges she was
being punished. guilty of selling and possess-
ing drugs, but said nobody
When her mother died two told her when she went to
years ago, the state of Con- jail that every day behind bars
necticut put a lien on the would cost her more than a
Stamford home she and her night at a fine hotel.
siblings inherited. It said she
owed $83,762 to cover the “It just drags you back to
cost of her 2 1/2 year impris- despair,” said Beatty, who
onment for drug crimes. has had other brushes with
the law over drug possession
Now, she’s afraid she’ll have since her release from jail,
to sell her home of 51 years, but has also become a certi-
where she lives with two fied nursing assistant. “That’s
adult children, a grandchild where I feel like I’m at. I feel
and her disabled brother. like no hope. Where do I go?
All of this work and it feels
“I’m about to be homeless,” like I’ve done it in vain.”
said Beatty, 58, who in March
became the lead plaintiff in Pay-to-stay laws were put
a lawsuit challenging the into place in many areas dur-
state law that charges pris- ing the tough-on-crime era
oners $249 a day for the cost dollars spent on prisons and its statute this year, keeping tion. of the 1980s and ’90s, said
of their incarceration. “I just jails. it in place only for the most Brittany Friedman, an assis-
don’t think it’s right, because serious crimes, such as mur- The state retained its ability, tant professor of sociology at
I feel I already paid my debt Critics say it’s an unfair sec- der, and exempting prisoners though, to collect some pris- University of Southern Cali-
to society. I just don’t think ond penalty that hinders re- from having to pay the first on debts already on the books fornia who is leading a study
it’s fair for me to be paying habilitation by putting for- $50,000 of their incarceration before the law changed. It’s of the practice.
twice.” mer inmates in debt for life. costs. unclear whether the change
All but two states have so- Efforts have been underway in the law, made after Beatty As prison populations bal-
called “pay-to-stay” laws that in some places to scale back Under the revised law, about sued, will be enough to keep looned, Friedman said, poli-
make prisoners pay for their or eliminate such policies. 98% of Connecticut inmates her in her home. That will be cymakers questioned how to
time behind bars, though not no longer have to pay any of decided in court. pay for incarceration costs.
every state actually pursues Two states — Illinois and the costs of their incarcera- “So, instead of raising taxes,
people for the money. Sup- New Hampshire — have re- tion after they get out, said Her lawyers have asked a the solution was to shift the
porters say the collections are pealed their laws since 2019. state Rep. Steve Stafstrom, a federal judge to block the cost burden from the state
a legitimate way for states to Bridgeport Democrat and a state from enforcing the law and the taxpayers onto the
recoup millions of taxpayer Connecticut also overhauled sponsor of the repeal legisla- against anyone, saying it re- incarcerated.”

US sails warships through Taiwan Strait in 1st since Pelosi

(AP) — The U.S. Navy Strait and waters surround- international law permits us make sure that we can con- freedom of navigation ma-
sailed two warships ing Taiwan since Pelosi’s to do so.” tinue to work toward a free neuvers.
through the Taiwan Strait visit, as well as sending war- and open Indo-Pacific.”
on Sunday, in the first planes and firing long-range Kirby also noted the tran- The 100 mile-wide (160 ki-
such transit publicized missiles. It views the island sit was “very consistent with The U.S. regularly sends its lometer-wide) strait divides
since U.S. House Speaker as part of its national terri- our ‘One China’ policy, very ships through the Taiwan Taiwan from China.
Nancy Pelosi visited Tai- tory and opposes any visits by consistent with our desire to Strait as part of what it calls
wan earlier in August, at foreign governments as rec-
a time when tensions have ognizing Taiwan as its own
kept the waterway partic- state.
ularly busy.
China said it tracked the
The USS Antietam and USS movement of the ships.
Chancellorsville are con- “Troops of the (Eastern) The-
ducting a routine transit, ater Command are on high
the U.S. 7th Fleet said. The alert and ready to foil any
cruisers “transited through a provocation at any time,” said
corridor in the Strait that is senior Col. Shi Yi, spokes-
beyond the territorial sea of person for the People Libera-
any coastal State,” the state- tion Army’s Eastern Theater
ment said. Command.

China conducted many mili- White House National Secu-
tary exercises in the strait as rity Council spokesman John
it sought to punish Taiwan Kirby, speaking on CNN on
after Pelosi visited the self- Sunday, said the transit sent
ruled island against Beijing’s a “very clear message, very
threats. consistent message ... that
the United States Navy, the
China has sent many war- United States military will
ships sailing in the Taiwan sail, fly and operate wherever