The $6 Million Math Problem

I’d been putting the lesson off for weeks and weeks, finding ways to stall.

Since August, a group of 35 men and 17-year-old boys at Burruss Correctional Training Center had been learning financial literacy with HeartBound. The end of December was rapidly approaching and there was one subject we had yet to cover.

Taxes.

Finally, we could wait no longer. The time had come to teach the most dreaded lesson of all. Knowing that so many of our students hated math, I expected the worst. I printed out Form 1040s and example W-2s and 1099s. So many different forms, so many different numbers. To make things worse, we didn’t have access to the internet and would have to teach by hand, the old-fashioned way. No fancy TurboTax software to make things easy, to guide us through it step-by-step.

Papers in hand, I strolled into our classroom. As I passed out the forms, several students began to burrow their heads into their hands. I tried to radiate a calm, positive attitude, reminding them that we’d get through this together and “tax fraud is one of two crimes with no statute of limitations,” so it was important that they learned. That fact certainly made them perk up – none of our students ever wants to see the inside of a prison again.

We filled out the form 1040 together. The process was slow and methodical, but we got through it. We probably took an hour and a half to get through the entire thing, but by the end, we’d all arrived at the same figure – we’d be receiving a refund of $2,000 or so dollars. I had them enter fake bank information to receive the direct deposit. Weeks before we’d learned how to open a checking and savings account and what routing numbers and account numbers were. Most students had their refunds deposited to savings. As a teacher, I was so proud.

After I dismissed the students, one of our longest-running attendees came up to me. This student’s been in our horticulture and financial literacy classes for four years now. I can always count on him to be honest with me.

“Mike, that wasn’t too bad, was it?” I asked.

His voice was confused. “What do you mean Spence? That was awesome!”

My turn to be confused.

“I’ve been locked up since I was 17. I’m in my forties now. I’ve never filed taxes before. I know how to do it now.”

His face wore a big smile. He clutched his Form 1040 in his hands. He wanted to go back to his dorm and teach other people like him.

Before he left, he turned back to me. The same smile remained.

“Thanks again Spence. Taxes are badass.”

In 2025, HeartBound provided financial literacy instruction to over 307 incarcerated men, women, and teenagers in 7 facilities – Burruss, Whitworth, Rutledge, Atlanta TC, Atlanta Youth Detention Center, Georgia Diagnostic and Classification, and West Central. That’s 307 people who learned practical skills like budgeting, saving, and investing. That’s 307 people who have newfound skills to help them from becoming re-incarcerated in the future.

I’ll end with some math of my own.

Currently, almost 70% of released inmates will be re-incarcerated. That means that statistically, of those 307 students, 215 will return to prison. It costs approximately $28,000 to incarcerate one person for one year.

If those 215 use their newfound financial literacy skills to stay out of prison, we just saved the State of Georgia $6,020,000. That’s $6 million that can be spent on education or healthcare or new parks. That’s $6 million that’s not spent on locking people in cages.

That’s some math I can get behind.

Have a blessed day.

Spencer