US prison to charge inmates for food and medical care

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Independent

US prison to charge inmates for food and medical care
Heather Saul – 08 February 2014

A prison in Nevada County will charge inmates for food and medical care, despite fierce opposition from human rights group who argue it amounts to a cruel and unusual punishment.

On Wednesday, The Elko County Commission approved Sheriff Jim Pitts' proposal to charge inmates at the Elko County jail $6 (£3.55) a day for meals, $10 (£6) for each doctor visit and $5 (£3) for initial booking into the jail.

Over the next few weeks, fees will be deducted from an individual inmate's commissary account, where family and friends can deposit money for the inmate to purchase items such as shampoo and envelopes.

Those without any money would see their account accrue a negative balance, and that balance would remain in the event the inmate was released but later returned to jail for whatever reason.


Read more: http://www.independent.ie/world-news/americas/us-prison-to-charge-inmates-for-food-and-medical-care-29992360.html

[sakabatou]

1. Republican style jails.

They still want you to die quickly.

[Judi Lynn]

8. As soon as they've sucked every drop of blood, or energy, or profit from you, first! n/t

[mpcamb]

28. I might go for it if they had a very long trial

of this policy at country club prisons for white collar criminals and then gave a very slow evaluation of it.
Actually, let's just start with the trial period.

[greiner3]

35. "let's just start with the trial period'.

And if they can pay, well DUH, they're rich aren't they, and once cities see they now have an additional revenue stream, EVERY inmate will have to pay but the poor won't be able to and next will come increased prison terms added on because they owe the state thousands of dollars for their care.

But hey, if you love Payday loans for their 'ability' to keep their customers on hook, you'll love being jailed for 20 years on an original 6 month time.

Or isn't this what you meant by 'trial period'?

[mpcamb]

39. isn't this what you meant by 'trial period'?- Nope

Just want to pop those white collar criminals who made off with scads of money and a short sentence while putting people out of work while they get a slap on the wrist.
Wouldn't mind a bit if they had to pay for meals and lodging in prison.
I certainly don't think it should be extended to anybody doing anything like hard time.
Sorry if I wasn't clear...

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303983904579093173797712780

There are people who can and should pay for being wards of the state when they abused citizenship and society.

[woo me with science]

30. The Obama administration is aggressively growing private prisons

Last edited Wed Jun 4, 2014, 01:16 AM - Edit history (2)

that benefit from this type of exploitation. It should surprise no one to see jails adopting a profit model, too. The growth of this outrage is being aggressively supported by both Republicans and the corporate Third Way, for one simple reason: Imprisoning human beings is a very profitable industry. But a government's complicity in attaching a profit motive to the imprisonment of human beings is nothing short of evil.

Poor minorities are worthless to corporations on the street. In prison they can bring in $40,000/yr
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023368969

Government guarantees 90% occupancy rate in private prisons.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2569173

Obama's 2013 budget: One area of marked growth, the prison industrial complex
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/1002392306

Obama selects the owner of a private prison consulting firm as the new Director of the United States Marshals Service (USMS)
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2010/12/mars-d03.html

Federal Private Prison Populations Grew by 784% in 10 Year Span
http://www.alternet.org/speakeasy/tikkundaily/americas-corrupt-justice-system-federal-private-prison-populations-grew-784-10

Poor Land in Jail as Companies Add Huge Fees for Probation
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014158005

Private prison corporations move up on list on federal contractors, receiving BILLIONS
http://www.nationofchange.org/president-obama-s-incarcernation-1335274655

The Caging of America - Why do we lock up so many people
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002226110

Prison Labor Booms As Unemployment Remains High; Companies Reap Benefits
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/10/prison-labor_n_2272036.html

Private Prison Corporation's Letters to Shareholders Reveal Industry's Tactics: Profiting from Human Incarceration
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022665091

Financial growth of private prison industry...Profiting from caging humans.

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/BshteP8i282pcaeH8pdUsA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTUyMA--/

This Is How Private Prison Companies Make Millions Even When Crime Rates Fall
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/09/private-prisons-occupancy-quota-cca-crime

This Is How Private Prison Companies Make Millions Even When Crime Rates Fall

—By Andy Kroll
| Thu Sep. 19, 2013 9:43 AM PDT MotherJones

We are living in boom times for the private prison industry. The Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation's largest owner of private prisons, has seen its revenue climb by more than 500 percent in the last two decades. And CCA wants to get much, much bigger: Last year, the company made an offer to 48 governors to buy and operate their state-funded prisons. But what made CCA's pitch to those governors so audacious and shocking was that it included a so-called occupancy requirement, a clause demanding the state keep those newly privatized prisons at least 90 percent full at all times, regardless of whether crime was rising or falling.

Occupancy requirements, as it turns out, are common practice within the private prison industry. A new report by In the Public Interest, an anti-privatization group, reviewed 62 contracts for private prisons operating around the country at the local and state level. In the Public Interest found that 41 of those contracts included occupancy requirements mandating that local or state government keep those facilities between 80 and 100 percent full. In other words, whether crime is rising or falling, the state must keep those beds full. (The report was funded by grants from the Open Society Institute and Public Welfare, according to a spokesman.)

All the big private prison companies—CCA, GEO Group, and the Management and Training Corporation—try to include occupancy requirements in their contracts, according to the report. States with the highest occupancy requirements include Arizona (three prison contracts with 100 percent occupancy guarantees), Oklahoma (three contracts with 98 percent occupancy guarantees), and Virginia (one contract with a 95 percent occupancy guarantee). At the same time, private prison companies have supported and helped write "three-strike" and "truth-in-sentencing" laws that drive up prison populations. Their livelihoods depend on towns, cities, and states sending more people to prison and keeping them there.

[frwrfpos]

40. I really wish you would make this an original post

excellent information and exposes exactly what our country is becoming

[ForgoTheConsequence]

2. What is this going to accomplish?

?

[TDale313]

3. Improve the bottom line of the for-profit prison system?

Seriously, this is disgusting.

[former9thward]

32. This is a public jail.

Nothing to do with for-profit prisons.

[Tx4obama]

4. The Elko County jail is a 'jail', not a prison

But they still should not be charging for food and medical care.

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. The distinction is only made in North America, so the Irish source wouldn't care about it

http://www.diffen.com/difference/Jail_vs_Prison

Oxford English Dictionary entry for 'prison':

A building or other facility to which people are legally committed as punishment for a crime or while awaiting trial.In North America, prison denotes a facility run by the state or federal government for those who have been convicted of serious crimes, in contrast to a locally run facility for those awaiting trial or convicted of minor offences. Cf. jail n., state prison n. at state n. Compounds 3a.

[elleng]

17. Quite right,

headline should be 'jail in U.S.,' or somesuch, and of course the substance:

[spike91nz]

5. More like Gilliam's "Bazil"

everyday.

[davidpdx]

7. Terrible

Someone in another thread about this said they tried it in Oregon. The person didn't provide a link that. If it is true, I'm shocked given it's a more liberal state.

[FrodosPet]

21. Pay for jail? Dutch govt wants to charge prisoners €16 a day

http://rt.com/news/dutch-prisoners-pay-jail-580/

Convicted criminals in Netherlands might start paying 16 euro ($22) per day for accommodation as the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice wants to introduce a bill aimed at reducing state jail costs.

“Convicted criminals have broken the law and received a penalty. Offenders are being asked to make a contribution… because of high costs,” the ministry said in a statement Monday.

Under the proposal, the convicts may have to pay 16 euro per day for a maximum of two years for time spent behind bars. Parents of under-aged prisoners would also be liable for the charge. The convicted would be given six weeks to pay, adds the statement.

If the bill is approved by the Netherlands’ two houses of parliament, it would become law by the end of the year.
A separate bill has been introduced by the State Secretary for Security and Justice, Fred Teeven, proposing that prisoners also “contribute to the costs of the investigation that led to their conviction.”

~ snip ~

So much for the idea that liberal European countries would not do something like this. Actually, I think it is far more common throughout the world than people would want to believe.

[OregonBlue]

31. They didn't just try it in Oregon. In some counties this is standard practice. So once

the person gets out of jail, they owe money (I think it's $20 per day) for every day they spent there. Of course, now they have a record and cannot get employment so can't pay it back. Sick!!!

[davidpdx]

38. Ah so it is on the country level?

Maybe that's why I hadn't heard about it. The person I know is at the state level.

[bemildred]

9. And last time I had jury duty, they were begging us to "donate" the compensation.

Last edited Sun Feb 9, 2014, 09:41 AM - Edit history (1)

Our "justice system" is reduced to beggary, and most LEO are treated as revenue generators where costs must be kept down.

[fredamae]

10. If true-then

does that mean they are no longer also charging Tax Payers approx. $3000.00 per month per head? Does that also mean we are Not reimbursing for medical care?
We need to ask some q's: Double dipping ain't cool!

[Sunlei]

11. 'commissary account run by outside 'for profit' company will now admin. basic food/medical

So low population Elko county doesn't generate enough local taxes from their massive gold mines to feed inmates?

Inmates can 'work for food'? what, work at the gold mines? Something stinks here, this should be a very wealthy county that generates a lot of tax revenue from that resource. Sounds to me like a repeat of the old 1940ish 'legal' slavery.

"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime

[1StrongBlackMan]

12. This is a very bad idea ...

My first thought was "what happens when folks don't pay the money?

And taking the fees from the inmate's commissary money is a worse idea because when an inmate's bank runs out, he/she still needs toothpaste, deodorant, snacks, etc., and will find other ways to get them, e.g., steal from other inmates, exhort other inmates, trade service, etc. That jail is about to become a very, very violent and corrupt place as the internal Black Market will intensify.

[no_hypocrisy]

13. Reminds me of parents being charged with paying child support

when Child Protection removes their children, puts them in foster care, and opens an investigation. The parents are presumed innocent until otherwise proven and even if they're poor, they have to pay back the money given to the foster parents. And if they don't pay, it goes to collections and/or garnishment of paychecks.

[musselmanm]

15. take the time.

Just take the time and the food and cots are included. Until you pay your debt through staying and eating and sleeping.
Fuck the man!

[valerief]

16. Are these 'innocent until proven guilty' jails? nt

[Gerhard28]

18. In America, you are presumed guilty from the time you are arrested.

Law school textbook b.s. notwithstanding.

[CFLDem]

19. Then they jail you for not paying the negative balance.

And the cycle continues!

Ad Nauseum is right

[ck4829]

20. I'm really surprised this hasn't started sooner

If people going there had jobs, well guess what, good chance not anymore!

Jails and prisons take money out of the local economy and they take money out of the community because some of those inmates had jobs and it takes money away from families as well. And fences, guards, upkeep, heavy concrete walls, other security measures, and not to mention keeping the inmates fed and cared for. All in all and with the exception of violent crimes, the value of what the inmates take out of the whole community and economic system is dwarfed by the cost of keeping them in jail or prison. It's a big hole.

And with the US having the highest incarceration rate in the world, and now growing with dumb things such as putting people in jail over not being able to pay the costs of the court, this hole is only going to get bigger.

[wildbilln864]

22. they do that here also at our local county jail.

should be illegal IMHO.

[L0oniX]

23. For profit prison system ...a fine example.

[FrodosPet]

24. The U.S. is not the only place charging (or talking about it)

Pay for jail? Dutch govt wants to charge prisoners €16 a day

http://rt.com/news/dutch-prisoners-pay-jail-580/

Convicted criminals in Netherlands might start paying 16 euro ($22) per day for accommodation as the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice wants to introduce a bill aimed at reducing state jail costs.

“Convicted criminals have broken the law and received a penalty. Offenders are being asked to make a contribution… because of high costs,” the ministry said in a statement Monday.

Under the proposal, the convicts may have to pay 16 euro per day for a maximum of two years for time spent behind bars. Parents of under-aged prisoners would also be liable for the charge. The convicted would be given six weeks to pay, adds the statement.

If the bill is approved by the Netherlands’ two houses of parliament, it would become law by the end of the year.
A separate bill has been introduced by the State Secretary for Security and Justice, Fred Teeven, proposing that prisoners also “contribute to the costs of the investigation that led to their conviction.”

~ snip ~

[dembotoz]

25. i owe my soul to the company store

again
why no us coverage

[totodeinhere]

26. The way this story is written it is somewhat confusing. It should read

"A jail in a Nevada County," not a "A prison in Nevada County." Nevada County is located in California. This is happening in Elko County, Nevada. And it's a county jail, not a prison. But the general thrust of the article is correct. Keep in mind that this is happening in one of the most Republican counties in the country. In the last four presidential elections the county gave the Republican candidate better than 70% of the vote. In 2012 Romney got 75%.

[CrispyQ]

27. It's sad that I'm not surprised. The inhumanity in this country is stunning.

This is just wrong on so many levels.



Looking for a place to write. This looks correct, but I'm not sure.

http://71.6.142.67/revize/elkocounty/boards/commissioners/county_commission.html

[PumpkinAle]

29. Welcome to Prison / Jail. Will You Be Paying Cash or Credit?

Article also includes jails...............

Welcome to Prison. Will You Be Paying Cash or Credit?

Belt-tightening municipalities like Tennessee's Anderson County are asking prisoners to help pay their own way — but experts say it probably won't work out for convicts or taxpayers



Read more: Welcome to Prison. Will You Be Paying Cash or Credit? | TIME.com http://nation.time.com/2013/08/21/welcome-to-prison-will-you-be-paying-cash-or-credit/#ixzz2sqe6SpQi

Snip:

Prison fees can also create another obstacle for inmates after they’re released: intractable debt. In Florida, the state relied on private collection agencies that added surcharges as high as 40%; in California, failure to pay a fee resulted in an extra $300 charge. And in some cases these fees can land convicts back in prison, costing taxpayers even more.

Judges in several states have sent former inmates back to prison for failure to appear at court hearings related to their debt, a practice critics say is akin to modern-day debtor’s prison.

[Swede Atlanta]

33. The header is inaccurate.......

It is a US State (i.e. Nevada) and not US Federal that is in question. As well it is not a prison. It is a jail.

[littlewolf]

34. In NC prison system

if you have a work release job, you are charged room and board. additionally if you owe money to the victim that is also deducted
from your pay.

if you do not have a work release job, and declare a medical emergency
and it is not an emergency you are charged 5 dollars. regular sickcall is free.

if you break prison rules you are charged a 5.00 admin processing fee
if your found or plead guilty. this is in addition to whatever punishment
is imposed.

now this was 8 years ago ... so I do not know if these are still in effect.

[frwrfpos]

36. literally debtors prison

we have turned into a Dickensonian society. Shameful as hell.

[surrealAmerican]

37. Dickensian is the indeed the right word for this.

It was more or less common practice in the nineteenth century (and earlier) to either charge prisoners, or simply not provide food. The jailed person's family would bring their food, or they would not eat.


We stopped doing this for good reasons.

[blkmusclmachine]

41. Salt into the wound.

[Skittles]

42. this is a way they can penalize the family and friends of the incarcerated

f*** them

[heaven05]

43. it figures

this is the capitalist paradise. what a joke.