Whenever I read Matthiessen the naturalist, I am reminded of a film clip I once saw of him trying to catch a snake in the wild.
This webpage only addresses apportionment of incarcerated veterans' benefits, which is the VA's process of taking all or some of a veteran's benefits that would otherwise be reduced or suspended due to incarceration and instead paying those benefits to the veteran's eligible dependents based on their demonstrated financial need.
Will Steel, Business consultant, parent, ex-felon after 5 years in U.S. fed prison. The criminal justice system and punishments are already draconian. Requiring an inmate to pay to be imprisoned would be over and above any draconian punishments which exist. That said the Federal gov and a partnership with UNICOR farms out prison labor to private enterprise for pennies on the dollar and equitable to pay compensating labor is 3rd world countries. Inmates already do all the labor in prison and are paid pennies a day to do it. In essence they pay for their imprisonment through thr jobs they do and the work they do for private enterprise who is benefiting from the cheap labor.