In the video above, we introduce viewers to Mike. He’s not a real person. He’s an invention, a generic character of our creation, whose grueling trip through the American criminal justice system is based on facts and real-world experiences.

Mike is our guide to a hidden form of punishment: criminal justice fees. These are levied against people at every turn in their path through the system. They can be big — like the cost of posting bail — or small, like fees to see a doctor in prison. They accumulate quickly and can turn into crushing debt.

This hypothetical narrative allowed us to show the myriad ways that fees are extracted from people in the justice system.

Why should we care if a person who commits a crime has to pay for some services? In short, because the fees can be incredibly destructive.

We’re not talking about fines, those monetary punishments that judges impose on offenders. And this isn’t about restitution, which is an additional sanction intended to reimburse victims. Fees are far more insidious, functioning like predatory taxes that raise revenue for the government. They can vary from state to state, municipality to municipality, institution to institution.

And they can have severe economic consequences, particularly for people who are already broke when they enter the system — that is, most people who run afoul of the law. The resulting debts can destroy people’s credit, prevent them from voting and interfere with their ability to find employment and housing.