The capital city of Connecticut,Hartford. Teresa Beatty was released from prison two decades ago.
Two years after her mother's death, the state of Connecticut placed a lien on the home she and her siblings were given. She was sentenced to 2 1/2 years for drug crimes and had to pay a huge amount of money to cover it.
She lives in a home with two adult children, a grandchild and her disabled brother.
In March, Beatty became the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the state law that charges prisoners $249 a day for the cost of their imprisonment. I feel like I've paid my debt to society, so I don't think it's right. I don't think it's right for me to pay twice for something.
All but two states have so-called pay-to-stay laws that make prisoners pay for their time behind bars. The collections are a way for states to recover money spent on prisons and jails.
It's unfair to put former inmates in debt for the rest of their lives, according to critics. There are efforts to scale back or eliminate such policies.
Since the beginning of the year, Illinois and New Hampshire have repealed their laws.
Connecticut kept its statue in place only for the most serious crimes, such as murder, and exempting prisoners from having to pay the first $50,000 of their incarceration costs.
About 98% of Connecticut inmates don't have to pay any of the costs of their imprisonment after they get out, according to a state lawmaker.
Before the law changed, the state was able to collect some prison debts. The change in the law may not be enough to keep her in her home. The decision will be made in court.
Her lawyers want a judge to block the state from using the law against her.
When she was sentenced to jail, Beatty was told she would have to pay more than a night at a fancy hotel.
Since her release from jail, Beatty has become a certified nursing assistant and has had other brushes with the law. I feel like I'm at that place. I don't feel like I'm going to get any better. I don't know where I'm going. It feels like I've accomplished nothing.
Brittany Friedman, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Southern California, said that pay-to-stay laws were put into place during the tough-on-crime era of the 1980s and '90s.
Friedman said that policymakers were questioning how to pay for incarceration costs. The solution was to shift the cost burden from the state to the inmates.
State to state, laws are different. Connecticut and many other states only go after inmates for the cost of imprisonment if they make money after their release. North Carolina has laws on the books but rarely uses them.
Connecticut's partial repeal went into effect. Because of the change, the state is expected to collect less from ex-prisoners.
John Kissel, the top Republican on the legislature's Judiciary Committee, said he opposed the repeal but may support reforms like allowing inmates to pay off debt in installments.
According to Kissel, Beatty's situation tugs at one's heartstrings, but everybody has issues.
He said that the policy was to make people appreciate the cost of imprisonment. Taxpayers paid the bill. They did nothing wrong. It's a good policy to know that you have to pay the state back a reasonable amount of time.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut says that Connecticut used to attach an automatic lien to every prisoner, claiming half of their financial windfall after they are released from prison. Insurance settlements and inheritances were included.
In lawsuits over alleged abuse by prison guards, the state collects money.
After his car was totaled in a traffic accident, a man who served more than 17 years in prison for killing a man while trying to get his son's bike came into money. He said that half of that was claimed by the state. After paying his lawyer, he had a small amount of money.
The money could have helped my grandsons. It could have aided me in reentering society. You would be surprised at the effect it would have on you. I was in prison for 17 years. How are you going to make a living out of that?
The excessive fines clause of the constitution is argued to have been violated by Beatty's lawsuit.
Even though he served most of his sentence before the law was on the books, the state took an insurance settlement from him.
He said that he was being punished for something he didn't know at the time of his sentence.
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Dave Collins is a writer for the AP.
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