BY ANNE MICHAUD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Hamilton County criminals are paying a little more for their crimes. For the past month, jail inmates who can afford it have paid up to $30 a day toward the cost of their room and board. The county spends $55 a day to house each prisoner, county Commissioner John Dowlin said.
Collections to date top $40,000, part of which goes to county coffers. Mr. Dowlin is hoping to rake in at least $255,000 by the time the "pay-for-stay" program is a year old.
At least 13 Ohio counties have installed pay-for-stay or are in the process of doing so. Another handful are thinking about it, said John Jacobs, president of IntelliTech Corp. in Youngstown, Ohio, which sells collections software.
Licking County will begin charging inmates Oct. 1, said Barbara Slee, the county jail's reimbursement coordinator.
"I interviewed the inmates this week to get an idea of their reaction," she said. "The majority were in shock."
Many are repeat offenders and don't expect the rules to change, she said.
"They're used to coming in here and not having to worry about anything."
The state law that allows pay-for-stay is 2 years old. Counties have puzzled over how to implement it, Mr. Dowlin said.
At first, Hamilton County could find no software company willing to take on the work. It involves figuring out how much inmates can afford, processing the bills and collecting any difficult accounts. The software costs about $12,000.
Hamilton County originally agreed to pay IntelliTech 70 percent of the money collected for its services. But Sheriff Simon L. Leis Jr. has offered to take over the program, Mr. Dowlin said, and the contract is being renegotiated to give IntelliTech a 30 percent share.
Five or six states have enacted pay-for-stay laws, said Robert Cornwell, executive director of the Buckeye State Sheriffs Association. Mahoning County was one of the first to begin pay for stay in Ohio. County Administrator Gary Kubic said the county has collected $34,512 since the first of the year.
Mahoning County jails have averaged 394 prisoners this year, as opposed to nearly 2,000 a day in Hamilton County.
The idea that prisoners pay for part of the cost of their incarceration "is very popular," Mr. Kubic said.
Mr. Dowlin pushed to have the pay-for-stay law adopted in 1996 after he heard about a similar program in Michigan, he said.
He had been irritated that Cincinnati financier Marvin Warner, convicted of securities violations in the 1985 collapse of Home State Savings Bank, stayed in jail for free.
"He had millions before he went to jail, and he came out of jail with millions," Mr. Dowlin said.
