December 20, 2023 — Comments

NCLC, on behalf of its low-income clients, submitted comments in response to the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office’s (AGO) proposed regulations on unfair and deceptive fees, often referred to as “junk fees.” These comments focus on junk fees imposed on justice-involved consumers. We are pleased the AGO’s proposed regulations would cover junk fees charged to justice-involved consumers. In Part I of our comments, we provide background on junk fees in the corrections sector. In Part II, we briefly discuss junk fees commonly associated with other correctional services throughout the country—namely, money-transfer services, tablets, pretrial diversion programs, and debit release cards—which we recommend the AGO further investigate.