This Program Gives Direct Cash Support to Incarcerated Women

Women are the fastest growing incarcerated population in the United States. The female incarceration rate has ballooned by more than 700% since 1980 — 172,700 women and girls were in jail or prison in 2023. A quarter of these (46,300) are confined because they were either refused bail or cannot afford it, rather than because they were found guilty of a crime. Over 14,000 are awaiting trial for drug-related offenses.

Even brief contact with the prison system can have life-long impacts. It can increase the amount of time spent unemployed or out of the labour force by as much as four years, and reduce lifetime earnings by up to 50%. It can also exclude someone from many forms of employment, for example by running afoul of one the staggering 27,000 national, state and local rules that exist to bar formerly justice-involved people from hold­ing profes­sional licenses.

It can also increase personal debt, compounding economic woes. Leaving prison is expensive — many of those who leave prison violate their probation simply because they don’t have enough money.

These impacts further combine with other socioeconomic characteristics to increase the difficulties for women leaving prison. For example, women in jails (especially women of colour) are already on average poorer than their male counterparts. More than 60% of women in state prisons have a child under the age of 18.

Partially as a result of all this, almost two-thirds of all prison leavers are re-arrested and more than half returned to prison within 36 months of their release. For those who do find employment within the first year of their release, a critical window for successful re-entry into society, median earnings barely exceed blog/up-front/2018/03/14/5-facts-about-prisoners-and-work-before-and-after-incarceration/”>$10,000.

Money in hand is the key to breaking cycles of incarceration, reducing prison populations, and bringing formerly incarcerated women back into society. Yet contact with the prison system itself makes that money so much harder to get. The answer, we at the Community Love Fund believe, is universal basic income.

The Community Love Fund

The Community Love Fund is an initiative of The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, a prison abolitionist project founded in 2010 by a group of women while they were incarcerated in the federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut.

The council is made up of a coalition of system-impacted women pioneering initiatives to end the incarceration of women and girls. We advocate for the unique needs of women entangled in the prison system, who face harsher penalties for intimate partner violence, must overcome unique barriers as primary caretakers, and who make up the fastest growing segment of the incarcerated population. Our community-led systems of accountability don’t involve prisons or police, because we want to transform how we respond to harm at both the community and national level in the process.

The fund is the first-ever guaranteed income programme to deliver recurring cash relief to women currently incarcerated in state and federal prisons. Through this pilot we’re delivering $500 a month to 21 women, four of whom are still incarcerated. By doing so, we plan to reconfigure the meaning of public safety by developing neighbourhood-led systems of individual and collective accountability outside of the carceral state. While ending incarceration is our long-term goal, we hope a guaranteed income can be a pathway to transformative justice in the medium term.

“The National Council’s Guaranteed Income programme is such a blessing and a reminder that I am never alone,” said a programme participant.

Why UBI?

The cycle of incarceration and subjugation is driven by scarcity and by limiting our communities’ access to the fundamental building block of an economy: money.

We see a basic income guarantee as a key tool for helping our sisters heal and thrive inside and outside of prisons. It helps build up networks of support while fully reimagining the individual and collective responsibility of communities.

From a prison abolitionist perspective, basic income has enormous potential as a tool for dismantling oppressive systems and fostering a more equitable future. By offering a regular, unconditional sum of money, it directly tackles poverty, reduces economic inequality, and provides a safety net for everyone receiving it. The stable income floor it creates enables people to break free from negative cycles of poverty and incarceration. It empowers them to make choices that best suit their lives, free from the constraints of financial desperation.

The benefits of UBI are far-reaching and profound. For many disenfranchised people, even a modest monthly income can significantly enhance their quality of life. When individuals no longer must choose between paying rent, buying medicine, or purchasing groceries, they experience a tangible improvement in their physical, mental, and emotional well-being. This newfound financial stability allows parents to take their children out to a movie, participate in community events, or enjoy the peace of mind of knowing their basic needs are met.

This economic security creates a ripple effect. When people thrive and are at their best, they can contribute more positively to their communities and society. This collective uplift can foster a more compassionate, energetic, and interconnected world where individuals are empowered to pay it forward and support others.

A Potential Form of Reparations

For the US’s Black population, incarceration and scarcity have replaced many of slavery’s direct forms of control. This is reflected in the horrifically overrepresented Black community in prisons and jails — a perpetuation of the US legacy of harm.

A basic income provided by the state could therefore function as a form of reparations — an acknowledgement of a debt owed — and pathway toward non-repetition. The Community Love Fund looks to light the way for policies and programmes heading in this direction.

Reparations concern justice for historical wrongs. The legacy of slavery, Jim Crow laws, redlining (refusing loans or insurance to people living in certain neighbourhoods), and other forms of systemic racism has left a profound and persistent economic gap between Black Americans and their white counterparts. Reparations seek to acknowledge and rectify these injustices, providing a pathway to genuine reconciliation and healing.

From an abolitionist perspective, reparations are not merely about financial compensation but structural transformation. They represent a commitment to dismantling the systems that perpetuate racial inequity. This includes investing in Black communities, ensuring access to quality education, healthcare and housing, and supporting Black-owned businesses.

Reparations also involve a public reckoning with our history and the ongoing impacts of racism. Implementing them requires a radical reimagining of our social system to creating policies that uplift rather than punish, and that recognise the right of all people to live free from the shadows of oppression and discrimination.

Treating UBI as a vehicle for reparations would create a robust economic and racial justice framework rooted in the abolitionist principles of dignity, equity, and systemic change. It would provide immediate economic stability that can alleviate poverty and reduce inequality, while also addressing the historical and systemic injustices that have created and perpetuated economic disparities.

We recognise the transformative potential of this synergy. By naming both in our advocacy, we are not just proposing economic policies but demanding a fundamental shift in how we value human life and dignity. Ours is a call to recognise our shared humanity and to take concrete steps toward a society where everyone has the freedom and support to flourish.

The Community Love Fund is a start, and we will do our best to make it grow. But it cannot be the end.