Why Inmate Pay Matters for Byron — and for Every Maryland Family
Family, Friends, and Supporters, as we continue the fight for Byron Greene’s exoneration, I want to shed light on another truth that too many families are forced to navigate: the dehumanizing wages paid to incarcerated individuals in Maryland.
Byron, like thousands of others, works inside the prison. Yet wages range from $0.15 to $0.46 per hour for essential labor — serving food, cleaning the facility, maintaining the grounds, even performing skilled roles. This means a full week of work might barely earn a few dollars.
Meanwhile, basic necessities inside the facility cost far more than anyone earning these wages can afford.
Families end up financing the very institution that is harming our loved ones.
This is not rehabilitation.
This is not justice.
This is a system intentionally built to control, impoverish, and silence.
As we fight for Byron’s freedom, we are also fighting for dignity, truth, accountability, and basic human rights for every incarcerated person in Maryland.
This petition is not just about correcting one wrongful conviction.
It is about exposing a system that refuses to value the lives it confines.
Stay with me.
Share widely.
Keep speaking Byron’s name.
We will not stop until he is home — and until this system changes for EVERY family.
The Reality of Inmate Pay: One More Layer of the Injustice Byron Faces
When we talk about Byron’s fight for justice, we must also talk about the conditions he and thousands of Maryland inmates survive every day.
Inmate wages in Maryland remain shockingly low, ranging from pennies earned to dollars withheld:
$0.15–$0.46 an hour for most institutional jobs
Up to $1.16 for certain correctional industries roles
Many jobs that pay nothing at all
Mandatory deductions that take an additional portion of their already tiny income
Yet the cost of food, hygiene items, shoes, phone time, and medical co-pays continues to rise.
Byron has shared stories of men walking the yard with their shoes taped together because the State restricts replacements. Others wait weeks for clothing exchanges. Many ration soap, skip meals, or go without essentials because wages simply cannot cover basic human needs.
This is the reality behind the bars:
A system that punishes, controls, and profits — while expecting families to shoulder the burden of survival.
This is what Byron is enduring as we fight for his freedom.
And this is exactly why A Mother’s Cry advocates not only for Byron, but for every incarcerated son, daughter, and loved one trapped in this broken system.
Because justice is not just about the sentence — it’s about the humanity that is denied every day inside those walls.
Rev. Jamesina E. Greene, President & Founder
A Mother's Cry