Taxpayers Pay for Prison Riots

As if prisons don’t already cost the states that house them enough. Especially California, the country’s most populous state and that with (one of) the highest ratio of its residents in prison and, obviously, the most prisons. Already, these issues add up to one undeniable fact; that California-run prisons take a large chunk of change from the state’s coiffeurs and when in a state of recession and debt, the amount of money that it cost to run these jails does not go unnoticed.

So, then add to the scenario a prison riot and all the turmoil, extra security and debris this causes and who is going to pay for that? The lucky people that live and pay takes in California of course.

A recent racially motivated riot in San Bernardino County, CA cost taxpayers as much as $6 million to clean up and make needed repairs. The prison riot damaged housing units, causing debris, and the forced transfer of more than 1,100 inmates. In addition to the seven housing units that were destroyed, another burnt down in a fire, causing injury to 175 inmates.

If the California Institution for Men in Chino decides to rebuild this unit, then the $6 million estimate will likely rise.

The cost to transfer the 1.155 inmates to other facilities was not expected to be high and officials said they would look within the existing budget to pay for this. Employees of the damaged facility would be sent to monitor the inmates at whatever other facility they were being transferred to.

The hard part is figuring out how and where to get the money to pay for prisoner hospital bills, eight of whom were hospitalized and two who remained in critical condition, and to clean up the mess left after the riot.

In the transfer of who’s going where and how long they will be there until they are returned to their originally assigned jail, inmates can get lost in the mix.

If you happen to know of these inmates that was involved in this recent riot and do not know how or where they have gone, perhaps a service like those offered by JPay.com can help. Whether you are simply trying to locate a prisoner or trying to contact one through prisoner email or whether you want to send prisoner money, let JPay assist you.