Inmates education and health costs could rise

Utah prison inmates who want to better themselves in jail might have to go into debt in order to do so.

A proposal requiring inmates to repay some of their own education costs was unanimously approved by the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee on Wednesday.

HB100 is sponsored by Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, who described the bill as "a way to have prisoners take responsibility for their own education."

Under Wimmer's proposal, inmates would be required to repay 50 percent of any education costs they incur while serving time. Wimmer said repayment would begin within three years of release and be completed within a "reasonable" time frame. He said interest would be charged and the money would go into a prisoner education fund.

Wimmer told the committee a surcharge on prison telephone calls currently brings in about $800,000 a year that is earmarked for inmate education. He said the combination of the telephone surcharge funds and the repayments would cover almost all of the costs of prison inmate education programs.

The bill would encourage enrollment in vocational and technical schools where inmates could get what Wimmer calls a "skill education" they can use as soon as they are released.

Additionally, the bill would raise inmate co-payments on medical and dental care from $3 to $5 and require any inmate with assets valued at more than $200,000 to pay for their own health care costs in prison.

Department of Corrections Executive Director Tom Patterson called the proposal a "monumental bill."

He said the emphasis on vocational training for inmates was right on the mark and would more quickly integrate them back into society upon release, working and paying their bills.

"It invests in the future of the inmates," Patterson said.

He also called the health care co-payment increase reasonable when compared to surrounding states and predicted the change would discourage some inmates who use the prison health care system "recreationally."

Patterson assured committee members that the change would not result in any inmates being denied treatment.

"We never deny treatment to someone with a genuine medical need," he said.

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