This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A Davis County lawmaker wants to clarify Utah law so that jails can make inmates pay for at least some of what it costs to keep them behind bars.
Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clinton, has a rough draft of legislation he is planning to introduce in January at the 2015 Utah Legislature's General Session. Provisions are still up for discussion but Ray said he wanted to allow jails to charge inmates, a practice that was discontinued in Davis County after a judge in April ordered a stop to the program.
In explaining his proposed bill on Wednesday to a legislative committee, Ray took swipes at Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings, who, along with the judge, had called the Davis County practice of charging inmates unconstitutional.
"I guess we have to be a little prescriptive on it," Ray told the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee after he was questioned about "micromanaging" county jails. "We have to outline more what the jails are allowed to do in order to tie it down a little bit better to protect our sheriffs from rogue county attorneys."
The Davis County jail had been charging inmates as much as $10 a day as part of its "pay for stay" program, which was assessed when commissary accounts exceeded a $10 limit, Sheriff Todd Richardson said.
Inmates also could pay by doing jobs around the jail, he said.
But after the judge's ruling — that the payments are a form of restitution, which require authorization from the courts — county commissioners in November agreed to repay inmates, a sum that Ray said would reach about $1 million.
Rawlings said Thursday that the "pay for stay" is still legal in Utah, but "it must be collected legally."
"It is simple," Rawlings wrote in an email in response to Ray's remarks. "Sheriffs submit a restitution request to the judge at the time of sentencing to begin the process of obtaining a valid court order. The law does not need to be changed in order for jails to seek reimbursement, just followed. What is hard to understand about that? Nothing."
Ray said the big issue for the bill will be whether the jail gets paid by inmates before or after other assessments, such as restitution to crime victims. He said he would seek additional comment before introducing legislation.