Dylan Hayre

Your Guide to the 2025 Prosecutor Elections - Bolts Key races will shape the politics of criminal justice from Philly to Seattle—plus a wild card in New Jersey. But most of November’s 66 prosecutor races feature just one candidate, as usual.

Few people have a greater degree of influence or more direct control over your local #criminaljustice system than your elected #DistrictAttorney. These #elections define so much about who we are as a country. Thank you, @boltsmag.org for pulling this info together. boltsmag.org/2025-prosecu...

Press Release: Gov. Kevin Stitt holds Ceremonial Bill Signing for HB 1460, a Groundbreaking Law Ending Fees in Oklahoma - Fines and Fees Justice Center The broadest Republican-led fee elimination bill in history will improve the lives of millions of Oklahomans. Contact: Michael Paul Jackson, Fines and Fees Justice Center mjackson@finesandfeesjusticec...

This year, #HB1460 - the broadest Republican-led fee elimination bill in history - became law in #Oklahoma. Yesterday, Governor #KevinStitt held a ceremonial bill signing. This is about more than changing laws. This is about changing lives. #justice #cjr finesandfeesjusticecenter.org/2025/08/26/h...

Prisoners’ Phone Calls Will Soon Be Free in New York State

Calls from incarceration are about so much more than communication. They are connection. They are access to necessary services. They are an essential tool in enduring the unparalleled challenge that is incarceration. And in #NewYork state, they're now free. #cjreform www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/n...

Imposing Instability: How Court Fines and Fees Destabilize Government Budgets and Criminalize Those Who Cannot Pay - Fines and Fees Justice Center In a first-of-its-kind report, the Fines and Fees Justice Center looks at the amount of criminal, juvenile, municipal, and traffic fines and fees imposed by courts nationwide and compares those ...

🚨NEW REPORT from @finesandfeesjc.bsky.social🚨 Imposing Instability — put together by FFJC's incredible #Policy & #Research team — shows just how much economic harm states inflict on communities, how little they collect, and the devastating consequences. finesandfeesjusticecenter.org/articles/imp...

FCC postpones its groundbreaking 2024 rules, allowing excessive phone and video rates to continue Incarcerated people and their loved ones will continue to be exploited by sheriffs and telecom companies for two more years, while these same interests lobby ...

After *years* of hard-fought #advocacy, in 2024 the #FCC announced historic caps on the cost of calls from #prisons & #jails. Now, succumbing to pressure from people who defend the systemic status quo of harm and exploitation, the FCC has postponed those caps. www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2025/07...

For those reentering society, freedom comes with strings attached.

Nearly every state allows jails & prisons to bill people for their own incarceration. From room & board to medical costs, these #PayToStay fees tether people to the system they’ve already paid their debt to.

@dylanhayre.bsky.social

"You've taken people at their most vulnerable and handed them a bill they can't pay. That debt destabilizes lives & entire communities."

Charging fees to incarcerated people isn't just egregiously bad fiscal practice. It's financial exploitation that exacerbates harm.

Impact of Debt-Based License Suspension Reform on Statewide Employment - Fines and Fees Justice Center This study assess whether debt-based drivers licenses suspension reforms had a measurable impact on employment rates.

🚨NEW REPORT🚨 Groundbreaking new research reaffirms that comprehensive reform to end debt-based drivers license suspensions can lead to massive #ecomomic benefits. For any policymaker who's trying to strengthen the #workforce, start here. #Free2Drive

Why I Blew the Whistle on Extreme Confinement on Rikers Island Social worker Justyna Rzewinski saw people with mental illness “deadlocked” in their cells for months without sunlight, human contact — or medication.

"I could not understand how this was happening in mental health units. It made no logical sense that people who were supposed to be receiving treatment were being denied medication and placed in conditions that would exacerbate their symptoms." #CLOSErikers www.themarshallproject.org/2025/06/27/r...

For years, cities & states have significantly ramped up their inhumane efforts — fueled by the #GrantsPass ruling from #SCOTUS — to criminalize people experiencing #houselessness. The #HousingNotHandcuffs Act would be a big step forward from this crisis. #Congress www.votervoice.net/NHLC/campaig...

Schiraldi: Why I left Department of Juvenile Services | GUEST COMMENTARY Maryland’s youth defendants are “languishing in custody while the wheels of adult courts slowly grind,” writes Vincent Schiraldi, the former secretary of the Department of Juvenil…

Love him or hate him, Vinny Schiraldi has always spoken truth to power. But this is about much more than the failures of legislative reform in #Maryland. This is a reminder of how even really well-intentioned agency leaders are limited in what they can achieve. www.baltimoresun.com/2025/06/26/s...

210,000.

That's how many *parole-eligible* human beings are imprisoned - people who remain incarcerated solely because of the decisions (or lack thereof) from state #parole boards that are, far too often, free to do as they please. #decarcerate #cjreform projects.csgjusticecenter.org/overlooked/

How Can Drug Decriminalization Be Built to Last? Decrim policies exist in 39 countries, but their details vary wildly. Realistic expectations are key to avoiding backlash, experts say.

Substance use #decriminalization is not a cure-all. One of the biggest problems in decrim-only policy: fines. "Fines and fees are something that disproportionately impacts low-income populations, making it a vital element to address alongside other forms of punishment." filtermag.org/drug-decrimi...

Even small missteps can grow into major setbacks.

“For a lot of folks, the impossibility of success [on supervision] is almost entirely determined by their ability to pay,” said @dylanhayre.bsky.social during a panel with @columbiauniversity.bsky.social Justice Lab, EXiT, & Justice System Partners.

To every advocate, ally, policymaker, and leader who continues to fight against systemic oppression, discrimination, marginalization, and harm - to everyone who believes we can have and works for a world defined by justice, hope, and healing: thank you. #juneteenth

In just 10 years, the #FinesAndFees reform movement has emerged as a unifying, bipartisan force. From our recent wins in Oklahoma and Nevada, to growing momentum nationwide, we’re driving reforms that expand access to #justice for all – regardless of income.

Stay in the know 👉 tinyurl.com/2hr264j2

Grateful to be back at #JohnJay for a #criminaljustice convening. #NYCattheCrossroads is a timely, invaluable opportunity to hear, reconnect with, and learn from some of the leaders in this city's historic, dynamic justice reform and community safety work.

The assault on #Harvard is driving the news, but know that #Trump has levied similarly devastating attacks on several organizations that've been working toward common-sense, bipartisan #justice reform for years. He thinks he's attacking the "left". All he's really doing is making everyone less safe.

The Price of a Fresh Start: True Second Chances Start With Fines and Fees Reform - Fines and Fees Justice Center Whether you’re fighting for parole and probation reform, advocating for fair housing, supporting reentry programs, or working to expand employment access, this #SecondChanceMonth, we’re calling on cri...

April is #SecondChanceMonth — time to reflect on and recommit to ending barriers standing btwn the 1-in-3 U.S.'ians w/ a criminal record and their chance to heal, grow, & thrive. Chief among those barriers? #finesandfees across the criminal legal system. finesandfeesjusticecenter.org/2025/04/01/s...

Fines and Fees Justice Center co-ED Priya Sarathy Jones speaking at @nba.com Social Justice Coalition's 'Give & Go' event — alongside Ken Oliver (Just Trust) and Nan Gibson (JPMC Policy Center) — about the depth of harm in the criminal legal system and the power of second chances. #SecondChanceMonth

Fines and Fees Justice Center

Ten years ago today, the DOJ released their #Ferguson report - a groundbreaking chronicle of how the criminal legal system's reliance on #fines and #fees to generate revenue erodes trust between the system, police, and communities. It was the genesis of a movement dedicated to tackling that issue.

Best advice I ever received about staying focused on your cause when it feels chaotic: keep tugging on your thread in the quilt of oppression. Tug on yours, trust others to tug on theirs, and the quilt unravels. Don't grab more of the quilt. That makes it impossible for anyone to pull their thread.

What gives me hope? Recently, I've spoken with a law school policy advocacy seminar and at an advocates roundtable lunch. What I saw: people choosing to dedicate their careers to solving impossible problems. To building hope. To fighting for healing. The next generation of amazing justice reformers.

Many of the White House candidates for high level positions in the Federal government come across as badly qualified for the jobs they are seeking.

If they all happened to be Black, I wonder if they’d instead be rejected as incompetent DEI hires?

'Set up to keep people stuck': Stitt calls for court fee reform to help ex-prisoners During his State of the State address on Monday, Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-Okla.) discussed the issue of burdensome court costs, fees, and fines, likening them to a "

Thank you, @govstitt.bsky.social, for explicitly calling for impactful, bold fines-and-fees reform in #Oklahoma. And thank you to the incredible advocates, including those on my team at @finesandfeesjc.bsky.social, who've fought for years to make this possible. Our work is just beginning. Let's go.

Appreciate the confirmation of what I'd basically assumed. But I needed to ask. Not a lot of room for confusion to begin with — even less when "loyalty" is the second thing listed on necessary skills.

Chiraag - Can you compare this to prior admin emails, to the extent they even existed, saying (probably in a more humane way): 'we're here, and you can choose to stay or not'? Is this an extreme and malevolent version of common practice, or is this (another) vicious aberration from the norm?

Watching @chrislhayes.bsky.social and @stephencolbert.bsky.social talk about the #Trump #January6 #pardons and relying on words like "jailbreak" and "offender" to tell their story... Why can't our "allies" in the fight for #justice focus on policy without relying on tired, dehumanizing tropes?

This Pennsylvania County Wiped Out Millions in Jail Debt After Dauphin County ended the practice of charging people while they’re detained in jail, Commissioner Justin Douglas pushed it to forgive more than $65 million in lodging fees.

I spoke to @bolts.bsky.social about debt cancellation in Dauphin County, #Pennsylvania - a high-impact step nearly every jurisdiction in the country could take today. It helps people heal. It's part of justice reform. It strengthens local economies. It just makes sense. boltsmag.org/jail-debt-an...

FFJC Appoints Priya Sarathy Jones as Co-Executive Director - Fines and Fees Justice Center In less than seven years since its founding, the Fines and Fees Justice Center (FFJC) has grown from a conversation across a dining room table into a national bipartisan movement ...

Honored and grateful to work with and learn from this amazing, inspiring human being. Congratulations, Priya, on stepping into this new role at @finesandfeesjc.bsky.social, and *THANK YOU* for everything you've helped build these past several years. finesandfeesjusticecenter.org/2025/01/08/f...