Hamilton County is reinstituting a one-time, $30 "reception" cost to convicted prisoners processed into the county jail. While the cost is designed to have convicts help subsidize the growing expenses involved with their housing-an understandable goal-the actual revenues from the program will be minimal. Moreover, the implementation of arbitrary fees by county officials sets a dangerous precedent whereby a prisoner's effective punishment is determined not only by the courts, but also by bureaucrats interested in being perceived as "tough on crime."
The prisoner processing fee was tried once before by Hamilton County, however the previous program, which charged all inmates regardless of whether they had been convicted or not, was deemed unconstitutional in 2002. The new program, which will only charge convicted inmates, is decidedly more just in this regard. However, because the $30 charge will only be assessed to convicted inmates and those who are deemed capable of affording the fee (roughly 10 percent of those processed), the county budget office estimates that it will only collect around $150,000 per year. When compared with the millions of dollars spent every year on the county's prison system, such a figure is merely a drop in a large bucket.
The insignificant revenue of this program is put into perspective even more when one considers the issues associated with it. The courts have the grave responsibility of determining convicts' sentences. Sentences take the form of financial penalties, probation and jail time, to name a few. It is wrong for a convict to be sentenced by the court, and then face additional and arbitrary penalties from the correctional institution in which they are incarcerated. While a $30 fee may seem small enough for most convicts to afford, if an incarceration fee is to be charged, it should be included as part of the sentence, and not as a "housing fee" by the county commissioner.
While other counties in Ohio have also implemented "pay-to-stay" fees, some charging convicts by the day, it is wrong that many of these programs issue ex-convicts a bill after they are done serving their sentences. It is the purpose of the initial sentence to pay one's debt to victims and society. The assessment of financial penalties should remain the court's prerogative. In many ways, Butler County's reinstated program seems to be a politically motivated attempt to appeal to voters. Unfortunately, while the program's motivation is appealing, it has negative ramifications for the county's criminal justice system and will do little to defray high prison costs.
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