http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake ... e8b06.htmlInmates may be hit with new fee
Lake County Council to look at $30 a day charge if detainees have been convicted
CROWN POINT | The Lake County Council will consider imposing a reimbursement fee on Lake County Jail inmates who have been sentenced by the court.
Expected to be introduced Tuesday at the council's next regular meeting, the proposal sets the fee at $30 a day, which appears to be the maximum reimbursement allowed by state law.
An analysis of the costs of housing inmates at Lake County Jail showed a daily cost of $61.80, which included overhead, or $38.10 without including overhead.
As currently proposed, the fee would be applied to detainees convicted of either a felony or a misdemeanor.
"The judges are aware this is out there," said Councilman Larry Blanchard, R-Crown Point.
Blanchard, who proposed the ordinance, indicated the county's judges have not registered any opposition to the idea.
It was unclear Thursday whether the proceeds from the fee would be returned to the general fund or placed in a special fund reserved for the jail. The needs at the jail currently are under review by the U.S. Department of Justice after the jail was found to be deficient in a number of areas.
Councilman Ted Bilski, D-Hobart, argued the proceeds should be dedicated to cover the remedies that have been proposed for the jail, such as a special sealing for the shower areas.Who thinks this stuff up?
Well I am opposed even if nobody else is. Is it not fair to say that most of these inmates and detainees are lower income? So where are they going to get this $30 a day from? They might not even earn $30 now before being apprehended. So if low income don't get exempted I can just see an ACLU challenge waiting to be filed.
So let's say someone gets the max sentence of 1 year. $30 x 364 days (because it can't be 365) = $10,920. So are you going to just send them a monthly bill for $100 or so?
I mean I get the intention. The jail needs updating and housing prisoners costs money. So why not make them pay for their own upkeep. But you're getting into dangerous territory with this additional type of punishment. It's not a fee to soak the rich because odds are pretty good the rich will either beat the rap with a good lawyer or get a suspended sentence. And if the sentence is avoided or suspended obviously no housing costs were incurred, so any effort to charge them this fee would also be unfair, though the article does not seem to indicate the fee would be charged in this case aside for the short time of detention.
I do feel that the jail will be an important issue for the next sheriff. Current county plans are to spend about a half $mil for upgrades while some contend we need a brand new jail to address some of the embarrassing issues that have come up under the Domingas leadership. I have been saying for years that we should look into an agreement with Porter County which has a brand new underutilized facility. Something we could do almost immediately is send our long term prisoners over there to ease our congestion but so far that's getting little consideration.
I know budgets are tight all over the branches of government and government seems unwilling to think rationally in many matters. But this $30 a day proposal might seem on the surface to to make some sense it's really a half baked proposal that will cost us more in lawsuits than it will ever bring in through revenue. IOW typical LC government.