ELKO — Between food, services, housing and utilities, taxpayers are footing a bill of about $85 per day for each inmate locked in the Elko County Jail, according to Sheriff Jim Pitts. With a jail population that’s almost constantly at the facility’s 120 inmate capacity, lock-up expenses add up to more than $10,000 per day and millions of dollars each year, according to Pitts’ estimation.
But the sheriff has proposed shifting a portion of those costs onto the inmates. The county commission on Wednesday wholly supported the idea, which outlines a $6 daily fee for food, $10 for each doctor’s visit and $5 for booking. Full Article
Wow…. You know for the longest time I knew that the jailing system was a “cash machine”, everyone knew this.. but some how there has been no way to get true solid facts for decades… now out of the blue we can see actually prices for what services.. its like the jail system is not hiding it no more…
Now on to my personal feelings in this matter… once you get locked up you are a “Ward” of the state.. You can fend for yourself, you can’t go out and buy groceries, you are basically being babysitted… What if you get locked up with no money or “family” support? are you given a bill? Thats just not right at all, not unless that jail have some sort industry unit like a woodshop, messhall, or metal shop where all inmates can work for $1.25 an hour (which I did, and I think it was goddamn slave labor)… That is double punishment I say… You weren’t locked up by choice, the law locked you up and the law should pay for it…. thats my say in this big mess of the world…
Great, More incentives to keep jail beds full. It’s not bad enough that we have to guarantee the private prisons that we will keep “X” many beds full, now the public sector want’s in on the action.
We went through this in RivCo a few years ago when the county board of stuporvisors passed the same type of initiative. The obvious problem they faced of course was collecting the $147/day they wanted. I think the plan was to seize assets like homes, vehicles, and whatnot which would in many cases not only leave a spouse and children without 1 parent, but would also make them homeless. So basically if a guy beat his wife,he would go to jail. Then the county would take the families assets. Do you think a battered wife should lose her home adding insult to injury or would she be hesitant to make a much needed call for help?
For one…its unconstitutional …another conflict of interest…they would financially gain with that scheme ….
they would use the majority if not all the taxpayers moneyto the six figures per public personnel payroll……what it comes down too…if they can’t afford a public funded department….close the shop down.
People there are prisoners and officials there must house feed and care for each prisoner ….cruel and unusual punishment isn’t the fault of the prisoner to be housed fed and cared for…..Don’t house them then at all….The taking in of money separate from taxpayer funded department would.lead to misuse and abuse of authority and give preferential treatment at a $$ cost….lead to bribes for high end food housing and care….this is bad and wrongful public policy.
Yes, prisoners are people not commodities. They consider them as liabilities and are trying to turn them into assets to improve the bottom line, which is profit. This is none other than owning people, which is slavery.
I agree with you completely! Where are you, President Lincoln? Let my people be free!
There are a lot of smart polititions today, but non that are brave enough to challenge the status quo.
Hi Tim; Hi Janice;
It’s all about the $$$$
http://www.correctionsproject.com/corrections/pris_priv.htm#profit
I know prisoners are people, unfortunately many people view prisoners as a vehicle to profit. As our rights are consistently trampled underfoot by self serving people I think it safe to assume the worse!!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/13/incarceration-rate-per-capita_n_3745291.html
716 of every 100,000 Americans are in prison. There’s something wrong with this picture!
…finding a Lincolnesque politician. I still am hoping for a Constitutional offenders site, but I was thinking it could be more of a voters guide. It could include individuals and parties. I know the Peace and Freedom party opposed Propositon 35, mainly on the internet identifiers requirement. The Green party waffled on it. Maybe a rating system? How one votes on registrant civil rights is ignored in all the voter guides I have seen. A good idea should never be abandoned, doing so admits defeat. If you never give up, even though you have to muddle through, you will never be defeated.