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City Studies

Prison Profits: Who Pays The Price

It costs over $70,000 to incarcerate one person for one year in New York state. The New York City government spent $3.7 billion on jails and prisons in 2017. Why does it cost so much to keep people in prisons and jails? Who profits from prisons and jails? Where does the money come from?

In December 2018, CUP collaborated with Teaching Artist Marianna Olinger and students from the Bushwick Leaders’ High School to understand the cost of prison, who profits from it, and who pays for it. To investigate, students used art to create maps of the prison system, surveyed community members, and interviewed key stakeholders working on the issue.

Students created this booklet as a guide for what students learned about the true cost of prisons and jails.