Changes Proposed to Inmate Financial Responsibility Program

The IFRP or Inmate Financial Responsibility Program is the program in the Federal Bureau of Prisons where the BOP takes money out of an inmates “trust fund” or “commissary” account to cover court costs, fines and restitution. The IFRP program was implemented in 1987 to ensure that inmates began to address their financial responsibilities related to their conviction while they were still in prison.

For decades the typical FRP payment (as it’s known in prison) was simply $25 per quarter for inmates who did not work at Unicor. Inmates that worked for Unicor (Federal Prison Industries) would pay half of their monthly salaries but made much more than inmates that had other Federal Prison jobs.

It pretty much didn’t matter how much you owed, the $25 quarterly payment was a staple and of course for those that owed millions, that barely made a dent.

But what this did do was allow inmates families, loved ones, friends and support networks to put money on their “books” (or trust fund accounts) for phone calls, emails and to buy things at commissary. For example, the BOP does not supply inmates with non-uniform clothing like sweats, shorts and t-shirts, rather just their uniforms, so inmates without money on their books were stuck with hand me downs or wearing their uniforms all the time.

More that this though is that the “trust fund” at every Federal Prison is used to off-set the cost of inmate needs, recreation services and things of that nature. Sporting equipment, arts and crafts supplies, teaching materials, even washers, dryers and hot water heaters are all purchased with “trust fund” money, or the profit from commissary sales and communications.

Now, because a small group of inmates like R. Kelly and Larry Nassar, have had tens of thousands of dollars on their accounts, the BOP has proposed changing FRP to up to 75% of the deposits on an inmate’s account. This means that rather than your inmate being able to buy essentials, commissary and paying for phone calls and emails, they will have to pay their fines and other responsibilities.

To those on the outside this may make perfect sense, however these inmates will still be obliged to pay these things back when they leave prison at a much more aggressive and appropriate level. Taking 75% of their trust fund money will not only cripple the inmates, but will cripple all the inmates and many functions reliant on the “trust fund” money. If FRP does change to 75% than we can expect a dramatic down shift in commissary profits which are used to fund many other important things.

Their is a public comment period still open for this until February 18, 2025. If you’d like to comment, please click this link.