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| Charging inmates to eat & sleep |
| By Denae D'Arcy KVAL News |
| Published: 05/01/2009 |
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Charging inmates to eat, sleep and read on the taxpayer's dime EUGENE, Ore. -- The State of Oregon lost major federal funding this year and the effects trickled down to Lane County. Law enforcement in Lane County was hit hard and now there are not enough jail beds to hold all convicted criminals. Because of similar monetary struggles across the nation, more states are raising extra money by trying something new: charging inmates for services. That way, tax payers forfeit some of the burden. The City of Eugene charges drivers 25 cents to park downtown at a meter for 20 minutes and some wonder why convicted criminals couldn't pay at least a quarter for a meal provided by the county. Springfield City Council voted to charge inmates $60 a day. The city charges five inmates currently housed in Lane County's jail and they'll charge criminals housed in the new Springfield municipal building when it is completed in October. The fees could add up to 18 thousand for the city a year. Richmond Virginia's Sheriff C.T. Woody charges inmates up to $5 a day. He says "A rounded up figure will be about $4 a day or 46 thousand dollars per year." He admits, there's not much of a plan in place to enforce the payments. "Those that cannot pay anything, we're not going to sue them. We're not going to take them to court," Woody continues. Payments from inmates work elsewhere, so what about Lane County? I met with Lane County Sheriff Russ Burger to find out why Lane County isn't charging inmates. He says this is nothing new to him. Burger presented the idea to county commissioners in 2007, "The inmates want to go on field trips so they ask to go see the nurse and the $2 dollar fee would discourage that." The idea to charge convicted inmates to eat, sleep and read books on the county dime sounds easy, but how practical is it? That's what I asked the Sheriff. Is it possible to make money, especially a profit, when charging inmates? Burger: "Well, the jury is out on that. Every little bit helps but it's not going to fund the corrections division by any means." Tax payers we talked to say there's nothing wrong with making those who break the law, pay to enforce it. One man who didn't give his name said, "If they've got the money or the family's got the money, they should be responsible also." Ron Chase, the Executive Director with Solutions INC in Eugene says charging inmates just complicates our justice system even more. "The vast majority of inmates are never going to be able to pay," Chase says. "Those are very poor people." Chase argues inmates shouldn't have to pile up debt for county fees and Sheriff Burger agrees somewhat. He has offered to use fees as an incentive: "If they didn't come back for two years we'd forgive it." Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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