A recent report from the Prison Policy Initiative, Following the Money of Mass Incarceration 2026 by Jacob Kang-Brown and Peter Wagner, found that although the crime rates and incarceration levels have declined, spending across the criminal justice system has increased tremendously.
In the past year, immigration policing and enforcement funding reached $54.3 billion — an increase of $20 billion compared to 2017. The funding follows efforts by the Trump Administration to intensify immigration enforcement.
The report highlights increased funding for policing, specifically for immigration enforcement, which accounts for 25% in government spending.
Government spending on prisons, jails, parole and probation increased from $112 billion to $116 billion in 2026.
Overall spending on policing totaled $203.2 billion, including a record $41 billion allocated to Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and other homeland security operations.The total spending across criminal justice sectors reached a high of $445 billion.
While funding for policing increased, public libaries only saw a 22% increase throughout the same period. Public libraries and educational institutions have been threatened to lose funding if materials and information provided to the public conflicted with President Trump’s agenda. Over more than 1,000 book bans been sought targeting reading materials that discussed LGBTQ+ communities and people of color.
Researchers identified exactly who benefits from mass incarceration and who bears the financial burdern of the system in the United States. Both public and private cooperations profit from services and fees associated with incarceration.
They note that “individuals and their families who come into contact with the system pay over $27.7 billion a year in fees, bail premiums, commissary payments and telecommunication cost.” Five times more than what is spent and allocated by private prisons and detention centers.
Companies that provide bail bonds, commissary services, and telecommunications rely heavly on money that loved ones send to detainees to bring revenue into their sectors. For example, bail bond companies bring in a revenue of $1.65 billion from implennting non-refundable fees for families.
The report emphasizes the importance of understanding the economic cost that exist with mass incarceration noting that state and local policies can be blurred because there is no system intergrated as a whole.
The Prison Policy Intiative suggest closely examining who the criminal justice systems actually serves.
