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: The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

States and cities attempt to charge prisoners to stay

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

Debt to society costs some criminals $60 a night By Tracy Loew, USA TODAY May 28, 2009 Get arrested in Springfield, Ore., this fall, and you might spend the night in jail ? then get a bill for your stay. The city plans to charge convicted criminals up to $60 a night, depending on their ability to pay, when a new 100-bed lockup opens in October, Springfield Police Chief Jerry Smith says. Thus, the city could recoup most of its cost of about $70 a day. "These people are the ones who cause the cost to operate a jail, so they ought to be the ones to pay it, not private citizens," Smith says. The economic recession is spurring several local governments to turn to pay-to-stay programs, says Sara Totonchi, public policy director for the Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights, which fights legislation that imposes such fees on inmates...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on May 29, 2009 (boomark / email).