California has a longstanding law that gives formerly incarcerated people $200 on the day of their release. That money has been continuously withheld by the Corrections Department, prompting a lawsuit, and now a policy change.
UC Berkeley’s Criminal Law and Justice Center filed a class-action lawsuit against the Corrections Department in September, mandating they stop withholding money from formerly incarcerated people.
A 51-year old California law grants $200 to individuals on their release day from prison.
However, the California Department of Corrections has been openly withholding that money. According to their regulations, “gate money” is withheld when those being released don’t have clothes or transportation arrangements.
UC Berkeley's Criminal Law and Justice Center and the law firm Edelson PC alleged that the agency illegally docked fees from more than a million people since 1994. The lawsuit says the department “routinely withholds some or all of the funds based on eligibility criteria of its own making, criteria that violate the plain language of the law."
A new directive now ensures those $200 are given to the thousands leaving California prisons upon their release, a win for those behind the September lawsuit.
According to a 2008 report by the Stanford Criminal Justice Center, the first 72 hours after someone is released from prison are paramount to the success of their long-term reentry.
A funding bill signed by Governor Gavin Newsom grants nearly $2 billion to the department to cover release day clothes and transportation costs for the next year.
