Dr. April Fernandes Presents for Law, Policy, and Society Workshop Series

Dr. April Fernandes, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, was invited as a guest speaker at Arizona State University’s Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics this past week. Dr. Fernandes gave her talk, “Adding Insult to Injury: Monetary Punishment, Willfulness & Disability in Pay-to-stay Lawsuits” for the Law, Policy, and Society Workshop series on November 8th, 2023.

Abstract:

“To offset rising mass incarceration expenses, states have increasingly looked to incarcerated individuals as a source of revenue, resulting in the practice of pay-to-stay, or bringing civil suits for the costs of  confinement. States claim they have suffered damages and are seeking reimbursement from incarcerated  people through pay-to-stay fees. Using lawsuit data from Illinois, I will be discussing work from an  ongoing collaborative project that uncovers how states frame incarcerated people with assets as “willful  nonpayers” in the use of institutional resources without compensation, thereby “harming” the state.  Incarcerated defendants resist such characterizations, naming their contributions to carceral institutions,  their families, and communities. I will also be exploring how the state engages in civil lawfare through  lawsuits targeted at incarcerated people with disabilities, weaponizing civil law against disenfranchised  populations. The state then adds insult to injury, countersuing incarcerated people for state personal injury  settlements due to police or correctional officer brutality. This work extends scholarship on monetary  sanctions by focusing on how pay-to-stay magnifies predation for incarcerated individuals and heightens  disadvantage during and after incarceration. ” – April Fernandes, Ph.D.

Read more about Dr. Fernandes’s expertise here https://chass.ncsu.edu/people/adferna2/