Miami-Dade County jails charge inmates $2 a day for room and board, a fee that’s rarely paid and creates a shadow economy behind bars that administrators want to eliminate.
Unpaid inmate accounts total $72 million over seven years, a measure of how rare it is for the county Corrections Department to actually collect a daily “subsistence” fee from the largely low-income jail population of more than 5,000 people.
“Most of these folks can’t afford it. Some probably can,” said Corrections Director Cassandra Jones told county commissioners Tuesday. “We want it to be an even playing field for all... We don’t want them engaged in negative behavior, figuring out how to circumvent the system.”
Inmates with negative balances on their jail accounts can’t buy their own drinks, snacks and other goods for sale from the commissary. The result, according to jail administrators: side deals, bartering and other shadow payments to the fewer than 20% of inmates with positive balances.
That’s led to a push by jail administrators to drop the fees altogether, giving up about $1 million in revenue to undo a two-tier jailhouse economy where only a few have spending power.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article261043022.html#storylink=cpy
I'm thinking...if they're in jail, and haven't been convicted of anything...shouldn't the local government pay them for their time or not charge at all? Charging seems ridiculous. If you're there it's usually cause you can't afford to bond out anyway.
Unpaid inmate accounts total $72 million over seven years, a measure of how rare it is for the county Corrections Department to actually collect a daily “subsistence” fee from the largely low-income jail population of more than 5,000 people.
“Most of these folks can’t afford it. Some probably can,” said Corrections Director Cassandra Jones told county commissioners Tuesday. “We want it to be an even playing field for all... We don’t want them engaged in negative behavior, figuring out how to circumvent the system.”
Inmates with negative balances on their jail accounts can’t buy their own drinks, snacks and other goods for sale from the commissary. The result, according to jail administrators: side deals, bartering and other shadow payments to the fewer than 20% of inmates with positive balances.
That’s led to a push by jail administrators to drop the fees altogether, giving up about $1 million in revenue to undo a two-tier jailhouse economy where only a few have spending power.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article261043022.html#storylink=cpy
I'm thinking...if they're in jail, and haven't been convicted of anything...shouldn't the local government pay them for their time or not charge at all? Charging seems ridiculous. If you're there it's usually cause you can't afford to bond out anyway.