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| Springfield to charge inmates $60 a night |
| By Andrea Damewood |
| Published: 04/21/2009 |
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SPRINGFIELD — The rates have been set: A bed at the Springfield Municipal Jail is $60 a night. But the City Council’s decision Monday night to approve the fee did not come without a lengthy debate among the six-member board about whether the fee is fair, and whether the city can expect to collect enough from convicted inmates to break even for its efforts. Councilors’ approval, in a 4-2 vote, came with the caveat that they expect an update in six months on the fee’s effectiveness. “If this is something that within a certain period of time looks like it’s not working out … I see no point in wasting our time if it’s not cost-effective,” Mayor Sid Leiken said. The fee means that someone behind bars for 60 days could be expected to fork over $3,600 for their lockup. The 100-bed jail is expected to open in October, and initial estimates are that the inmate housing fees could provide $18,000 of the jail’s $2.5 million budget. But the ordinance will go into effect before the municipal jail’s opening, which means Springfield will soon begin charging inmates for part of the $109 a night the city pays for each of its five spots at the Lane County Jail. Though he said he supports finding a way to charge inmates, Councilor Joe Pishioneri noted that many criminals are poor to begin with. “Are we squeezing blood out of a turnip?” asked Pishioneri, a special services deputy with the county jail. “We need to keep a very close eye on it to see if it is worth our while. “There’s a reason many institutions don’t charge the housing fee, because it’s just not worth it,” he said. Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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