Indigent Prisoners: What they Are and How they Qualify

Indigent prisoners are almost half the prison population in any prison unit. The only units I worked at were private prison units, and they had indigent prisoners. In this article I will discuss how much funds you have to have in your prison account to qualify as an indigent prisoner and what kind of things are given to you if you are qualified.

To qualify as an indigent prisoner you have to have less than $10in your prisoner account. And, the majority who have little money on their account, are the prisoners who their family forget about, and their family sends them no money at all. A lot of these prisoners get prison jobs to buy commissary items, but a dollar, or less a day never adds up. One time a prisoner told me that he only made about 25 cents a day, for a whole day's hard work. But, he said it was better than nothing, and it was good, because he got to go outside of his block, and cut the yard, which was relaxing to him. He said, any job was better than staying locked up all day in your block. During my time as a correctional officer I used to see the prisoners work hard for every penny earned, and they worked with a smile all day. One prisoner even told me it made the day go by fast, and he said the year also went by fast.

The items you get if you are qualified as an indigent prisoner are very little, and they include: small shampoo tube, small bar of soap, toothbrush, small tube of toothpaste, two letters, two pieces of paper, pen, and one razor. Now, these items are a lot, but the time they last is only for one day. To me that is not fair, they should be given more of these items at one time, because the state gives a lot of money per prisoner to house them. But, when it comes to private prison they are all about saving money on the prisoners, and as well as the staff. To me that is not fair at all, because the staff does not even see bonuses at the end of the year.

I do not want to offend no one by the writing of this article, but I do send all my respects to the prisoners, and the staff of prisons in the United States of America. Please leave comments on my work, so I can get more ideas to write about.