Richmond jail to start charging inmates $1 a day

[underpants]

Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch

Richmond's overcrowded city jail will start charging inmates $1 day to be there.

It costs about $46 per inmate, per day to cover the jail's operating and administrative costs, city budget documents show. The $1-a-day charge could raise more than $500,000 a year toward the $30 million annual cost of running the jail.

Virginia has allowed sheriffs to charge inmates for their stays since 2003, and this year the legislature increased the maximum amount from $1 a day to $5. Chesterfield County has levied the $1 charge for two years.

Allmon said the money would be billed to inmates' accounts, which the jail sets up for them so they can have cash to pay for phone calls and snacks from the canteen. The money comes from what cash they have when they're arrested and from what their families send them.

Allmon said the sheriff's office won't sue inmates if they are indigent and don't have money. But he said any unpaid balance will carry over from one arrest to another, so if an inmate returns and has money in his account at that time, it will go first to pay off the charge.


Read more: http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local/article/JAIL10_20090409-222409/253285/

[commander bunnypants]

1. Henrico charges eight dollars a day.

CB

[underpants]

19. The city jail might be able to use this money to get locks on all the cells or air conditioning

I mean hypothetically

[commander bunnypants]

23. when I use to outreach down there in the summertime

It was fucking awful, dirty,smelling and unbearibly hot.

CB

[zeemike]

2. Isn't that the same as indentured servitude?

They have no choice to be there and are being charged for it.

[hughee99]

13. I don't think so...

If they have no money in their account, the state doesn't extend their prison term or go after them for money owed. Basically, it's a tax on their privileges, which is what the money in the account is used for. If you have money in the account for phone calls and other things, you will contribute to your own expenses as well.

[Deja Q]

30. Except they committed a crime sufficiently nasty to belong there in the first place.

Indentured servitude is for the rest of us; with the current economy, we have no choice but to stay at our jobs - the media has admitted as much time and again; same job, not looking at new skills, all out of fear...

[BrightKnight]

32. Not everyone in the city jail has been convicted of a crime. - n/t

[FreakinDJ]

3. Nothing new in Placer County Calif. - $20 per day

[pinniped]

28. My friend owed Placer County some dough for a no insurance ticket that....

went unpaid for a year or so.

It was pretty funny when the clerk told him the fine was a thousand something, but he could also pay it off by going to jail.

[ixion]

4. this sounds very illegal and/or unconstitutional to me

especially given the nature of the privatized prison industry. :wtf:

[pleah]

5. That is what I was thinking.

WTF! indeed.

[Blue_Tires]

8. about 5-6 years ago

when i was living in Rhode Island some small jail warden wanted to charge "rent" in so many words (15-20 bucks a month, which the prisoners could work off iirc)...No one really seemed to have a problem with his proposal until one of the state attorneys said charging the inmates elevated them to "renters" in the eyes of the law and would give them a whole new world of legal rights and protections... the idea was dropped like a hot rock...

I wonder if lawyers in other states will find the same thing....

[cboy4]

6. The money comes out of cash they had when they were

arrested?

:wtf:

You're charging people who haven't been convicted of a crime for being dragged to jail against their will?

This sounds like a constitutional case to me.

[XemaSab]

26. Doesn't that money often become the property of the state, and/or evidence in the trial?

:shrug:

[Demeter]

7. This Is Already Filtering Into State courts

Hope we have new Supremes by the time it gets to Federal levels.

[Spinzonner]

9. Any discounts for good behavior ?

If you're later found innocent do you get a refund ?

Talk about Credit for time served ...

[Deja Q]

31. That I fully agree with.

Not that innocent people deserve to be in jail; that's creepy as hell.

[Blue_Tires]

10. and remember folks

this is my very own state which just yesterday spat on a $125 mil stimulus while our roads are bursting at the seams and there is a 3 billion budget shortfall...

[underpants]

18. Yes indeed

What did Naomi Klein say about prison labor being used in the near future for road construction and paving and the like?

Brilliant

[Blue_Tires]

11. forgot to mention: HOW MUCH FUCKING MONEY DOES MADOFF GET CHARGED DAILY?

a day's charges from him will fund a prison for 10 years...why are governments so heavy-handed with the nickel-and-dime bullshit and reluctant to even discuss charges against the mega-criminals??

[Lucky Luciano]

15. I think all of Madoff's money should go to those he stole from...

and at least a good part of it has been seized...100% should be taken if it has not already been taken.

[Blue_Tires]

17. but he should be left with nothing...

and even with so much seized so far, he's still living in more luxury than all the rest of us...

[Lucky Luciano]

22. agreed...like I said 100%. nt

[Robb]

12. IMO this is just a touch more honest than "processing fees"

...which I seem to recall are tacked onto court fees here in CO. Although it's been a few years since I bailed anyone out of county. :D

[Vidar]

14. $30 a day here.

[Javaman]

16. that really gives a new spin to the term, "you are going to pay for that!" nt

[scrinmaster]

20. I could see myself supporting this, but not for those awaiting trial.

Once you've been convicted, maybe, but definitely not if you haven't.

[alarimer]

21. Blood from a turnip.

Just how are they supposed to pay for this?

[lurky]

24. They could make 'em pay a hotel tax too,

while they're at it... :shrug:

[damntexdem]

25. No thanks, I don't want to pay. Just let me check out.

I can find a better joint to stay in on my own, thank you.

;-)

[Mr. Hyde]

27. One more way to keep you under their thumb.

[No Elephants]

29. Money talks. Nobody walks.

[riverdeep]

33. And if you don't pay, you get sent to-jail?

Or you get your privileges taken away, I guess.

[ohio2007]

34. how about a steady diet of bread and water and videos of life in a Turkish prison

[TEmperorHasNoClothes]

35. do they get released if they don't agree to pay LOL