Estimating the Income of Iran’s Prisons from the Sale of Ankle Monitors

Despite the fact that prisoners are legally obligated to pay for their own ankle monitors, the Consolidation Commission of the Majlis determined that 500 billion Tomans ($8.1 million, at an exchange rate of 61,300 Tomans/$1) of public funds will be allocated to the bureau of prisons for their procurement.

In last year’s national budget, the Bureau of Prisons income from the sale of these monitors has been estimated at 30 billion Tomans (about $489,000), which is only a fraction of the resources allocated to this organization.

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According to the 2022 budget law, prisoners pay somewhere between 2000 and 50000 Tomans ($.03-.81) daily to the bureau of prisons for ankle monitors. Using ankle monitors cost each prisoner 1.5 million Tomans ($24.45) monthly, or 18 million Tomans ($293) annually.

According to April 2023 data from the judiciary, at least 9,000 prisoners have hand or ankle monitors. That means that the bureau of prisons earns 160 billion Tomans ($2.6 million), five times the allocated annual budget.

This is not the only 2022 budget allocation for this bureau. It receives 480 billion Tomans ($7.8 million), allocated in four separate budget lines: 

• 400 billion Tomans ($6.5 million) from the sale of old prisons
• 20 billion ($325,998) Tomans from repayment of loans given to prisoners
• 16 billion Tomans ($261,000) from investment for prisoners’ employment
• 16 billion Tomans ($261,000) from the sale of products produced by prisoners

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Resources’ spending restrictions are specified in budget and other laws. Money earned from the sale of old prisons must be spent on building new ones, income from the prisoner employment projects must be reinvested in the same programs, and a major part of the income from the sale of items produced by prisoners must be given to the prisoners themselves. 

Specific budget lines are separate from, and a small part of, the budget of the Bureau of Prisons budget. The total 2022 bureau of prisons budget is about 9.77 trillion Tomans (over $153 million). From this amount, only  500 billion Tomans ($8.1 million) are allocated in specific budget lines.