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| Sheriff to politicians: Make inmates pay daily ‘rent’ |
| By bostonherald.com |
| Published: 01/06/2010 |
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The state’s high court handcuffed a New Bedford sheriff’s bid to charge jailbirds $5-a-day rent, but the lawman is calling on Beacon Hill lawmakers to pass a stalled bill that would send the court ruling to the gallows. Bristol Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, who says the nominal daily inmate fees could raise $10 million a year for the cash-strapped commonwealth, says the state Supreme Judicial Court erred by striking down his pay-to-stay program at the Dartmouth House of Correction. But, he says, the Legislature could make the ruling moot by moving legislation giving sheriffs the power to impose reasonable fees. “Hopefully the Legislature will do the right thing,” Hodgson told the Herald. “The state of Massachusetts is losing millions of dollars by not having this acted upon.” The SJC unanimously ruled yesterday that sheriffs, who oversee jailhouse budgets and manage facilities, do not have the authority to impose fees to offset the costs of housing inmates. “Had the Legislature intended to authorize the sheriff to impose the challenged fees, it would have said so expressly as it had done with other fees,” SJC Justice Roderick L. Ireland wrote in the decision. The ruling means Hodgson will have to pay back $750,000 in fees collected from inmates from 2002 to 2004 and held in escrow. Hodgson estimates that the state spends $35,000 a year per inmate. Hodgson, a no-nonsense ex-cop who brought back chain gangs, yanked TVs from cells and has been criticized for overcrowded jails, contended that colonial-era law gave him authority to impose the fees. He says the SJC decision hits taxpayers in the wallet while inmates blow their canteen cash on sneakers and snacks. “People are making cuts to their own personal budgets, and yet the people who victimize them continue to get higher-grade sneakers, candy and cookies,” he said. “It’s high time the people who are costing taxpayers the most and contributing the least paid their way.” He added that he’s sending letters today to Gov. Deval Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Robert DeLeo asking them to make passing a law allowing sheriffs to charge fees “a high priority.” A Murray aide declined to comment while a DeLeo spokesman said the SJC decision is being reviewed. A Patrick aide said the governor will review Hodgson’s letter but has not taken a position. Officials from Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services, the state-funded inmate advocacy agency that filed the suit, did not return calls. Read More. |
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