Senator Kruse has introduced SB 261 which would require costs of incarceration at county jails to be assessed against convicts who are imprisoned at the jails. Currently it’s optional with the counties as to whether they would like to adopt an ordinance providing for the collection of jail costs. (The fiscal impact statement (pdf) provides a nice explanation of how the bill changes the status quo.)
I have mixed feelings on this one. Theoretically, making wrongdoers pay for the cost of their wrongdoing, including costs of incarceration, is a good thing. But imposing another financial burden on folks who are already on the edge might push them over. Collection is another issue. Currently in Tippecanoe County, we are pursuing a huge number of unpaid Community Corrections fees (fees for being on probation, house arrest, etc.) You collect what you can, but often the money simply isn’t there. And while, technically it might be an option under their sentence, the reality is that throwing them back in jail for non-payment is rarely a cost-effective solution.
Yeah, let’s think about who we’re doing this to. If you’re talking about a Wall Street exec that ripped everyone off for billions, then I say you not only bill him for the incarceration, but also for every other step of the process, down to gas on the cop car that first picked him up.
If we’re talking about someone who hit the local Quick-e-Mart because he didn’t have enough money, something tells me his financial situation won’t be changed when he gets done with jail.
Mom always said you can’t squeeze blood from a turnip. Since our constitution has that line about the penal system being about reform rather than retribution, I’d think this would fail that test. Taking away money from people who have practically nothing is not likely to further any reform.
Our penal system isn’t about retribution, only reform?
Shhh…don’t tell the death row inmates about that one.
The Supreme Court long ago said the death penalty doesn’t count when it comes to the reform not retribution clause. The first Indiana Supreme Court Justices to hear the issue of whether the death penalty violated this section of the Indiana Constitution were among the men who wrote the document. They declared that they never meant to prohibit the death penalty, and that part of our penal system could be for retribution, as long as it was based on reform.