Davis jail inmates paying $10 rent

FARMINGTON — If you're convicted of a misdemeanor and have to do some jail time in Davis County, paying your debt to society doesn't just mean sitting behind bars anymore.

The county wants some of its money back, so this spring it began charging misdemeanor inmates $10 a day to stay in the 800-bed jail.

Jails got the ability to recoup some of their costs for housing inmates during the 2003 legislative session. The law allows counties to charge inmates up to $43 a day, though the daily cost of housing them may be as high as $61.

Davis joins Weber and Utah counties, which began charging $10 per day this year.

Cache County, the first county to implement the fee, charges the full rate, said Sharon Nielson, legal assistant to Cache County Attorney George Daines. Nielson is in charge of setting up payment plans with inmates and says over the past 2 1/2 years, Cache County has recouped about $151,000. That's about 15 percent of the $1 million or so the county has charged inmates so far.

"Recouping some is better than none," Nielson quoted her boss as saying.

Nielson said she sees the fee as a chance for former inmates to be responsible, and only a few have ever really complained about the fee.

When recently released inmates say they don't feel it's fair to charge them, Nielson has a response ready.

"Some people in the state are tired of paying for others' wrong choices," she tells them. And that usually makes sense, she says.

Nielson says the fee sometimes is a burden for former inmates, and she has the leeway to discount what inmates owe if they make an effort.

"We don't want this to be a hardship on them," she said. "We just want them to be responsible."

Misdemeanor inmates in Cache County aren't charged for days they are in drug court, on work release or in counseling.

Payment programs are available in Cache County, and one is being worked out in Utah County, according to a news release from the Utah County Sheriff's Office.

Keith Major, the Davis County Sheriff's Office business manager, told Davis commissioners recently that it's too early to tell how much revenue the fee will generate for Davis County.

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E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com