Brandi North just completed five years of community supervision at the end of July.
For North, it means freedom from parole, but also no longer paying the state of Mississippi $55 a month as part of the terms of community supervision.
Now that $55 will go toward paying off credit card debt. Once she’s got those credit cards paid off, she’s thinking $55 could mean a new pair of shoes.
But five years ago — when North was just getting back on her feet after being released from a year and a half in prison — an extra $55 would have meant something a lot different.
“I was so strict about things, keeping the thermostat turned up in the summer, keeping it turned down in the winter and not running water and not leaving lights on,” North said. “I wouldn't have worried so much.”
Thousands of people across the Gulf South are in the same boat as North and have to pay their parole and probation officers every month as part of their sentence.
It’s a fairly common practice across the U.S., with 47 states permitting probation fees when fulfilling community supervision instead of prison time, and 37 allowing fees to be charged in any parole case when fulfilling community supervision after a prison sentence.
These fees are generally to partially cover the costs of community supervision, like parole and probation officer salaries, or, as in Mississippi, equipment and a crime victims’ fund, among other expenses.
But in the Gulf South, home to some of the country’s poorest states, the costs can be untenable.
Like for North, who was not only putting herself back together, but also reuniting with her children, who had gone to live with her parents while North was incarcerated and shortly after her release.
“It was really, really stressful, especially around Christmastime,” North said. “When I would have to tell my kids, ‘No, I can't come to Missouri this month because I have to do all this extra stuff.’”
The $55 per month North paid is standard for all parole and probation sentences in Mississippi, with additional costs incurred for services like inpatient drug or mental health treatment, and in some cases, drug testing and electronic monitoring.
North said she had a huge step up when she got out — a job waiting for her as a legal assistant with the Office of the State Public Defender. She was also able to get her fees waived initially because she was living at a shelter and thus deemed homeless.
“Then I moved out and got my own place,” North said. “Here I am doing well, I'm succeeding, I'm living life, I'm doing well in life, I've saved up money, I've done all of these things that I need to do in order to ‘succeed,’ correct?
“Now, when I do that, then I'm penalized $55 a month.”
‘There’s a lot of pressure’
In Louisiana, the two types of community supervision come with different costs.
The state charges at least $60 a month — but no more than $110 — plus an additional $11 per month for probation.
Initial processing fees are $65, and probationers could face extra costs for services like drug testing and counseling.
Parole can cost up to $63 a month in Louisiana, based on a person’s ability to pay, with the same one-time processing fee as probation.
Misty Woods is currently on parole in Louisiana. She’s seven months into a 4-year sentence, after serving 16 years in prison. She’s working two jobs, but says it’s worth it to get those monthly fees taken care of.
“The $63 is doable because, I mean, that's just part of life at this point,” Woods said. “You don't even factor in how much it's going to end up costing you because it's your freedom.”
But it adds up. Community supervision can cost several hundred dollars every year. Louisiana racks up the highest cost for probation, totaling at least $917 annually for an individual probationer.
For Woods, her parole fees will total over $3,000 by the time she completes her sentence. It’s a major burden.
“I'm having to hem on groceries and stuff because transportation is a must and parole is a must,” said Woods. “The parole comes right with the rent and everything else you just kind of shuffle in there.”
One complication that can come with these fees is possible revocation, meaning if you don’t pay them, you violate your parole or probation and could be sent to prison.
Law enforcement has discretion in enforcing that, but Woods, like other parolees, isn’t looking to take chances.
“You are saving money from working and everything, but just to have something that could violate you hanging over your head in a dollar amount was kind of overwhelming,” Woods said.
Woods had a particular issue with that when her charges didn’t show up in the online portal for several months — leaving her unable to pay them while they accumulated.
“They just now showed up two weeks ago, but it was the entirety of all six months plus the $65,” she said.
She managed to get the charges split instead of having to pay around $400 all at once, but it was an incredibly stressful experience.
“That's a lot of pressure because you're like, ‘Well, if I don't pay it, I'm violating,’” she said.
In Louisiana, a committee determines how much a person is able to pay for parole at the outset, and the fees can later be reduced, but only after completing three years of parole.
But Woods says it's at the beginning — not the middle — where the state can help people, particularly if they’re paying the full $63.
“Give somebody a chance to get on their feet, to get a job, to get settled before you start tacking on this fee,” she said. “Especially someone that's going to be on parole for years; give them a few months, give them a three-month grace period.”
A way out
There are some options in that vein in the Gulf South.
In Mississippi, the Department of Corrections or the sentencing court can grant a hardship waiver, but it’s only good for up to 90 days.
Parole in Louisiana is already based on the ability of a parolee to pay, but probationers who can’t pay have to perform community service instead.
In Alabama, exemptions to the $40 monthly fees are made on an individual basis by sentencing courts in probation cases or the Board of Pardons and Paroles for parole. People just coming out of prison, additionally, get a 90-day grace period for court fines and fees, along with restitution.
The state also doesn't automatically send people to prison for nonpayment of the $40 monthly fees for both parole and probation.
“Individuals on parole do not face revocation for failure to pay their $40 fee, and it is not considered a technical violation if they are unable to pay it,” Amanda Deem, with the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles, wrote in an email to GSN.
John Ray, a veteran living in Birmingham, Alabama, doesn’t have to immediately pay his fee because he has to pay $95,000 in restitution for drug trafficking offenses and another $35,000 from bad checks from 1999.
He’s paying that in monthly installments, across several counties.
“I was in terrible drug addiction back then, and I know that I did these things, but they're really old,” said Ray.
His latest sentence was for life, which he served for 20 years before paroling out. Those charges — and the restitution — follow him to this day, though. Like recently, when police in Birmingham pulled him over.
“His dashcam automatically pulled up my tag number and showed him that the person who owned this car, that it was registered to, had these warrants [for money owed on restitution and bad checks],” Ray said.
Fortunately, Ray said he had his license, registration and insurance all together.
“He said, ‘Mr. Ray, we’ll catch you a break today because you have everything else in order and we're not gonna take you to jail,’” Ray said. “But if he had, it could very well have gotten my parole revoked.”
The 55-year-old considers himself fortunate because he was able to get housing and a job with Three Hots and A Cot, a nonprofit that helps homeless veterans. It and other advocacy groups, along with help from his son, made it possible to get back on his feet.
He says other people don’t have that when they leave prison.
“You get that $25 card and a bus pass, and that's it,” Ray said. “They send you back to wherever they're going to send you when you get out. A lot of the ex-convicts and prisoners, they get out, they tend to go back to what they know.”
Still, those thousands of dollars are costing him about $225 a month. It’ll increase to $265 once the state implements the $40 parole fee.
In Alabama, parole lasts as long as a person's original sentence. Pardons are possible after three years, but not guaranteed. Ray’s most recent prison sentence was life. Like Woods, he’s glad to be free. But the state will be collecting from him for the rest of his life.
“What I've been paying up, it's worth it to me,” Ray said. “But I know that if I hadn't had help, I would have been in a world of trouble.”
This story was produced by the Gulf States Newsroom, a collaboration between Mississippi Public Broadcasting, WBHM in Alabama, WWNO and WRKF in Louisiana and NPR.
