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NCJRS Abstract

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NCJ Number:	113795

Title:	ACA's Golden Oldies: Jails for Profit

Journal:	Corrections Today Volume:50 Issue:6 Dated:(October 1988) Pages:84-87

Author(s):	E R Cass

Date Published:	1988

Page Count:	4

Type:	Historical Overview

Format:	Article

Language:	English

Country:	United States of America

Annotation:	Experienced observers decry the use of the fee system as a means of paying law enforcement officers for their services.

Abstract:	Yet, the fee system still exists in operation in many jails. The fee system is open to flagrant abuses in which the inmate and the community may both be victims. One of the most conspicuous objections to the system is economic: It has been demonstrated that inmates can be kept more economically by paying the exact cost of their subsistence with a reasonable salary for their keepers than at the usual per capita and per diem rates to the sheriffs. When judges and sheriffs are elected and subject to partisan influences, it is not difficult to imagine some pressure on a judicial officer to sentence an individual to jail where he may be a source of revenue to a friendly sheriff rather than suspending the sentence. There is also the possibility of friendly action on the part of police and constables to keep jail populations at a high level. In addition, there are moral and humane issues at question. Dispositional decisions should not be complicated by the possibility of selfish interests concerned with adding to fees. The fee system has been a source of persistent and flagrant abuse. These abuses include the frequent short-term commitment of drunks, vagrants, and petty offenders; the absence of reasonably balanced diets; the frequency of the same cheap, ill-prepared foodstuffs; and the early release of inmates while continuing to charge for their presence in jail until the expiration of the sentence. The fee system should be abolished, and the operation of jails should be monitored.

Main Term(s):	Jail management

Index Term(s):	Corruption of public officials



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