- $40,000 Housing for My Husband
- $7200 Health Care for his family (I am currently on AHCCCS until April 2010)
- $6000 Food Stamps (I am currently receiving at $500 per month until June)
- $1800 in six months cash assistance (which I needed while unemployed)
- $480 unemployment when I didn't have a 2nd income to rely on
- $800 one time rental subsidy from Maximus (Jobs Program)
- $500 one time utility assistance from Mesa CAN
- $300 one time utility assistance from Maximus (Jobs Program)
- $5160 in daycare expense for the year (I am not receiving any longer)
TOTAL: $62,240
(Mutliply just the $40K to house the 40,176 inmates AZ has $1,607,040,000 PER YEAR! I understand that these are not all low level offenders but still DOC is 29% over capacity. Lets just say that 11,651 are low level inmates non-violent that's still $466,040,000 per year they could save)
What I Pay Per Year:
- $3240 round trip in fuel to visit
- $1440 in vending machine for OVER priced JUNK food
- $1200 in collect calls and that's low balling it
- $24,000 in living expenses
TOTAL: $29,880
- $??.?? Unknown amt in counseling and family therapy after he's released. Due to the trauma, and separation of our family.
Thank You ARIZONA Tax payers. For paying to keep my husband from supporting HIS family!!!! Contact the AZ legislators and tell them to change the truth in sentencing for low level non-violent offenders to 65%....this move would save the state millions of dollars in the first year and billions with in 5 years.
His approx income prior to incarceration:
TOTAL: $144,000
I was at home with my children before he was sent to prison (which by the way Gilbert Police threw him under the bus because he was not charged originally for the crime which he is serving time for, he was used and then thrown to the wolves)
My Income: BELOW THE POVERTY LEVEL for a household of 3
PS I am NOT making excuses for his actions, he should be under some form of punishment, restitution, probation, but NOT PRISON!! What he NEEDED was REHAB!
Or, just keep laying off teachers and throwing guys in prison...pretty soon all the SCHOOLS are GOING to BE PRISONS!!
2 comments:
Thanks for laying this out for us to see - it's ridiculous! I was also on food stamps for 3 months after my sweetie was arrested until I could find a job. And we were on AHCCCS for 6 months. I was lucky to find a job within a couple months and I got off of those programs as soon as I possibly could, but I'm sure there are many others that have to be on them much longer.
So besides having to pay to house these guys and to take care of the families and children, the families also have to endure extravagant costs for traveling to visit and phone calls to maintain family ties. PLUS I've had to support him in prison because he couldn't find a job in there until just recently!
It's obvious in the end that the state is wasting too much money locking up non-violent offenders for so long...
I understand that prison can be a hardship on families, but it is the action, not the punishment, that needs to be addressed.
I think that incarceration and probaton are great tools, but if the judge issues a sentence, there MUST have been a reason. Was there prior criminal offenses? Is there a risk to citizens? Is there a high risk of repetition?
I noticed neither of you mentioned what the "sweeties" were in jail for...
I am reminded of the phrase "If you can't do the timer, don't do the crime"
Mistakes happen, but they have consequences.
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