Restrictions on the use of the ATM at the country jail make perfect sense.

On April 12, a prisoner at the jail tried to use a Temporary Assistance to Needy Families benefit card to put money into his commissary account. The correctional officer stopped him.

The TANF cards can be used like a debit or credit card to withdraw money using an ATM machine, but instead of accessing a personal bank account or line of credit, the card grants access to government-funded benefits. The cards are issued by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services and are meant to provide temporary financial support for families struggling with poverty and as a way to get them off of public assistance. The state doesn’t prohibit the jailhouse use of the cards, but it should.

The TANF program is meant to help families and, primarily, children. Helping mom or dad buy candy or a toothbrush while they’re locked up in jail falls short of the way that money should be used.

After the correctional officer stopped the prisoner from using the card, the jail evaluated their use, and work has begun to place new restrictions on how its ATMs can be used.

We can anticipate the arguments that might be made to allow the continued use of TANF cards in jail: The recipients are entitled to the benefits, and they aren’t in technical violation of the law. But using money intended to help children, to keep families together and to move people into the workforce for prison purchases violates the spirit of the program.

The county jail is right to restrict the use of the cards.