In my view, this is wrong wrong wrong ~ AZ is "punishing" the wrong people, and for the wrong reasons ~ I also read recently that California is [or wants to] charge inmates @$150/day for every day of their incarceration ~ I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that one ~  ~ Sooz

Arizona Now Charging Individuals to Visit Their Loved Ones in Prison

Gotta generate those profits, ya know.
Is slavery next?

private prisons should be dismantled. it is perverse to have a public institution like this made private.

Hmmm... I know I wouldn't have paid a wooden nickel to see my dad. In fact, they couldn't pay me enough to go see him.

I am making every effort possible not to rant:  you all already know my views of the American prison system...slavery is indeed one of the adjectives frequently used to describe the system by those familiar with its 'workings"....

Families of inmates do indeed suffer when a loved one is incarcerated...they bear stoically silent when their loved one is not receiving proper medical care because they know if they make inquiries concerning the healthcare of a loved one that the inmate will reap repercussions from the inquiry (learned this one the hard way!!) they learn that they must help the inmate in paying "restitution" fines of the crime before an inmate can even be considered for parole (if an inmate is so lucky as to have a paying job in the prison, 10 cents to 25 cents an hour will not come near paying hundreds of dollars in fines!) the family must send money to the inmate for personal toiletries including toilet paper, etc. which are not Walmart prices, the food in most prisons is close to inedible, with many inmates actually getting physically sick when they eat it, so many inmates rely on family support to buy "canteeen" items such as canned ravioli, spam, vienna sausages, etc. and vitamins are a staple at the top of the inmates shopping list....prison is not the 'country club' set up that many think it is...the inmates are given one outfit...any other clothing must be purchased through the prison catalogue, including shoes...again, not WalMart pricing...and then there is the prison "take care of each other" thing, where those who have help those who have not...at interest sometimes...and those who succumb to the temptation to borrow out of necessity (like if the family could not send money that month) face hell if they do not repay their debt (kind of like outside the wall only worse!)  Many times the family is aware that the money they send does not all go to the benefit of their loved one, but they keep mum and don't say anything (phone calls/letters are all monitored) but just pay up....a one time $25 charge to be able to see their loved one will be paid for by the family, which believe me is already used to extortion...but then AZ would not want to miss out on this market....difference is their extortion is done under color of the law!