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| Judge Issues Utah County Jail DNA Ruling |
| By Salt Lake Tribune |
| Published: 06/05/2003 |
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The Salt Lake County Jail must set up a system to determine whether its inmates can pay a $75 fee for DNA collection and testing before taking the money out of their commissary accounts, a 3rd District Judge ruled May 29. Judge Timothy Hanson issued the ruling in a lawsuit filed last November on behalf of two former inmates, Daniel Nuttall and Ikaaka Wilana Kaheaku. The suit challenged the jail's policy of taking money deposited in felons' commissary accounts without assessing their ability to pay. The state's DNA testing law says felons pay the fee 'unless the agency determines the person lacks the ability to pay,' according to the men's attorney, Brian Barnard of Utah Legal Clinic. 'All inmates are presumed under the [jail's] policy to either be able to pay the fee currently or at some point during their incarceration,' Hanson wrote in the ruling. 'There is nothing to preclude the defendants from reviewing the inmate's current commissary account balance as a possible benchmark for determining ability to pay.' Jail officials had argued they could not make individual assessments because of their fluctuating population. Hanson wrote he was not persuaded by their reasoning, and levying the fee without making an assessment of the ability to pay violates state law. Barnard has a similar lawsuit pending against the state Department of Corrections. Attorney Patrick Holden of the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office civil division did not immediately return a call seeking comment Friday. |
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