Rent for jail in Riverside County?
June 9, 2011 | Steven Cuevas | KPCC
Last month the U.S. Supreme Court ordered California to reduce its crowded prisons by more 30-thousand inmates in the next couple of years. That means the state could send a lot of inmates to complete their sentences in county jails. That’s one of the reasons Riverside County is considering a plan to charge inmates for the cost of incarceration. KPCC’s Steven Cuevas has details.
Even supervisor Jeff Stone, the guy who came up with idea, admits it could be a longshot. “Now I know that we are preempted by some state laws and it’s something that county council will investigate," he says.
The idea is to get jail inmates to pay the county back for housing, feeding, clothing and guarding them. "It's $142 a day that it costs the taxpayers to house our convicts in our jails which amounts to $51,830 a year," Stone says.
Stone’s plan could also charge admission fees for people who visit inmates. "I don’t want to malign the turnip, but it’s hard to get a lot of juice out of it," says supervisor Bob Buster, referring to the large number of inmates who just can’t afford to pay for the cost of their incarceration.
But supervisor Stone says plenty of prisoners can – and the county needs the money. “White collar crimes, people that get put in jail after repetitive DUIs, they can in fact reimburse this county either through liens on their property or judgments that can be applied. Even if this nets 2 or 3 million dollars, that’s 2 or 3 million that closes that $16 million gap in the Sheriff’s Department that enables us hopefully to keep the officers on the street.”
Other jurisdictions have tried to recoup costs from inmates. Indiana’s Porter County started billing prisoners more than 10 years ago. A couple years after that, Michigan’s governor vetoed a similar proposal. Riverside County attorneys will review its inmate reimbursement proposal and report back to the board of supervisors later this year.
http://www.scpr.org/news/2011/06/09/rent-jail-riverside-county/
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$142 a day? wow
June 9, 2011 | Steven Cuevas | KPCC
Last month the U.S. Supreme Court ordered California to reduce its crowded prisons by more 30-thousand inmates in the next couple of years. That means the state could send a lot of inmates to complete their sentences in county jails. That’s one of the reasons Riverside County is considering a plan to charge inmates for the cost of incarceration. KPCC’s Steven Cuevas has details.
Even supervisor Jeff Stone, the guy who came up with idea, admits it could be a longshot. “Now I know that we are preempted by some state laws and it’s something that county council will investigate," he says.
The idea is to get jail inmates to pay the county back for housing, feeding, clothing and guarding them. "It's $142 a day that it costs the taxpayers to house our convicts in our jails which amounts to $51,830 a year," Stone says.
Stone’s plan could also charge admission fees for people who visit inmates. "I don’t want to malign the turnip, but it’s hard to get a lot of juice out of it," says supervisor Bob Buster, referring to the large number of inmates who just can’t afford to pay for the cost of their incarceration.
But supervisor Stone says plenty of prisoners can – and the county needs the money. “White collar crimes, people that get put in jail after repetitive DUIs, they can in fact reimburse this county either through liens on their property or judgments that can be applied. Even if this nets 2 or 3 million dollars, that’s 2 or 3 million that closes that $16 million gap in the Sheriff’s Department that enables us hopefully to keep the officers on the street.”
Other jurisdictions have tried to recoup costs from inmates. Indiana’s Porter County started billing prisoners more than 10 years ago. A couple years after that, Michigan’s governor vetoed a similar proposal. Riverside County attorneys will review its inmate reimbursement proposal and report back to the board of supervisors later this year.
http://www.scpr.org/news/2011/06/09/rent-jail-riverside-county/
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$142 a day? wow
