In 2025, the Center for Public Integrity closed its doors. POGO Investigates, the newsroom of the Project On Government Oversight, is preserving this website as an archive. Learn more
The Center for Public Integrity traveled around the U.S. to investigate the growing web of prison bankers, private vendors and corrections agencies … and how they profit off the innocent by shifting costs onto inmates’ families. Video by Eleanor Bell. Share this video on Facebook and Twitter. CNBC was a partner in this reporting and shot some of the general footage. Read the video transcript.