The U.S. spends billions to lock people up, but very little to help them once they’re released |By: Casey Kuhn | PBS News Hour | Apr 7, 2021 5:18 PM EDT ~

The U.S. spends $81 billion a year on mass #incarceration, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and that figure might be an underestimate. In 2017, the #Prison #Policy Initiative estimated the actual cost on state and federal governments and impacted families is roughly $182 billion. Those dollars go to staffing the #criminaljustice system and meeting the basic needs of the more than 2 million #Americans who are incarcerated.

But when those people leave #prison or #jail and reintegrate into their communities, the question of where support comes from gets complicated. #Government funding for parole and other reentry services is minimal in comparison to the amount spent to incarcerate people, and organizations struggle to apply and reapply for the funds. #Reentry organizations, most of which are #nonprofits, run on small budgets. When they aren't competing for #grants, they're trying to #fundraise against causes that many donors see as more compelling, they say.
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