Thursday, April 06, 2000
Suit hits fees charged at jail
BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A class action filed Wednesday accuses Hamilton County of seizing money from suspects as “pay to stay” fines and failing to return them when people are freed.
The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court by attorneys Robert B. Newman, Lisa T. Meeks and Stephen R. Felson.
It says the practice violates the Fifth Amendment twice — by denying suspects due process and by taking private property for public use without fair compensation.
The complaint seeks a change in county policy and unspecified damages. Defendants are Sheriff Simon L. Leis Jr., who runs the Justice Center, and county commissioners.
Steve Barnett, spokesman for the sheriff, confirmed that deputies exact a booking fee up to $30 but “the policy is that the money is returned if they are not convicted.”
Typically, a check is mailed but some are returned as undelivered, Mr. Barnett continued.
The average fee is $9, he said, and the money goes into the county general fund. He would not comment on the complaint filed on Wednesday, saying he had not seen it.
Guilty or innocent, “They have no right to take money out of people's wallets,” Mr. Newman said.
Anthony Allen, in his 30s, is the named plaintiff in the class action.
He says he was arrested July 18 by a Cincinnati police officer who told him a computer check of his BMW's license plate showed an outstanding warrant.
Mr. Allen, of Bond Hill, said he was kept at the Justice Center for 12 hours and a deputy took his wallet and removed $30, saying, “It costs to go to jail now.“
The computer entry was wrong and Mr. Allen was released after being arraigned.
He tried and failed to regain his $30, the complaint said.
His lawyers say there is no way Mr. Allen and others can regain their money under Ohio law because the seizures are “discretionary acts on jail premises” and that makes the defendants immune from lawsuits.
A federal civil rights suit, however, is different.
The lawyers filed his claim as a class action because individual losses are so small that it wouldn't be worth it to one person to hire a lawyer. In a civil rights class action, however, the law allows attorneys to seek fees from the defendants if they win.
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