As Prisoner Accounts Swell, Critics Fear More Murder-for-Hire Plots

Government-run deposit accounts for federal prisoners grew by over $50 million this year, concerning critics who say negligence by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) enables incarcerated people to use this money to finance other crimes, the Washington Post reports. Driven by government stimulus checks, the total amount of money in inmate accounts topped $140 million this month. Although the money has ballooned, restitution payments to victims haven’t caught up. For instance, the Washington Post reported last month that prison officials have allowed Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics doctor accused of sexually abusing hundreds of girls and women, to avoid paying the tens of thousands he owes to victims, despite the fact that he received $2,000 of stimulus checks this year and spent more than $10,000 from his prison account, according to a court filing.

In another case, convicted drug dealer Richard Gilbert attempted to pay someone with money from his prison account to murder a key witness in the case against him. Gilbert — who allegedly discussed killing the assistant U.S. attorney and an agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives pursuing the case once the witness was dead — was sentenced last week to 21 more years in prison for the scheme. Jason Wojdylo, a retired U.S. Marshals Service official who spent years unsuccessfully trying to persuade BOP to change its policies, said the Gilbert case demonstrates BOP’s banking system is unsafe. Inmate accounts aren’t subject to the same criminal and regulatory scrutiny as bank accounts of non-incarcerated people, and BOP can only incentivize — not compel — prisoners to comply with state court orders for payments such as child support or alimony.