If you do the crime, be prepared to do the time, and in some places, you'll have to pay for your stay.
In Washington County, for example, a night in jail on the weekend will cost some prisoners more than if they opted for a stay at hotel. Down south, if you have a paycheck and are doing time on a Friday or Saturday night, you'll have to shell out $100. During the week, officials scale back the prices to a mere $40 a night."We realize we are not going to get 100 percent of the inmates, or even 50 percent of the inmates, who are going to be able to afford to pay this fee," said Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith. " Our whole goal is to take those who can afford it, allow them to pay for their punishment and take a little bit of the load off the citizens of Washington County."
The fee, approved by the Washington County Commission, is assessed to non-indigent inmates only after conviction and at the discretion of the sentencing judge.
"We are not trying to bury those people who are financially strapped anyway," Smith said. "But we do want those who can pay to bear the burden of their incarceration."
The Purgatory Correctional Facility has space for about 315 inmates. Smith said his weekend population, because of typical community rowdiness, often increases by 25 or 30 people.
Part of the jail's dilemma has been sentencing options that allow a criminal defendant to serve his sentence one weekend at a time. Routinely practiced in counties across the state, weekend sentencing gives the criminal who has a job and a family a chance to continue the employment and to maintain the family structure. The trouble, Smith said, is his staffs deal with the challenge of managing more inmates because of people who opt to serve their time on the weekend.
"There is a ton of paperwork each time a person comes and goes. If they can choose a date and time for their punishment, there ought to be some additional consequences to that. "
Smith said he doesn't expect the housing fee to be a money maker for the county.
"This is not going to be the goose that laid the golden egg. If we generate a 20 to 30 percent collection rate, that's good. But it is something, and maybe the money can go toward other county programs, like Meals on Wheels."
The concept of making inmates pay for a portion of their housing is not new, but it appears the Washington County program is the first of its kind in the state that involves county inmates.
At the Utah State Prison, about 300 inmates who hold minimum wage jobs have up to 40 percent of their wages withheld.
Department of Corrections spokesman Jack Ford said it is a federal law that allows the withholding -- up to 80 percent of the wages -- so certain financial obligations of the inmates are met.
The money isn't used as payment for "housing fees" but goes toward victim restitution or into a savings account for the inmate.
Ford said the idea is to force the inmate to save so when that individual does get released from prison, there is a financial nest egg that can make the transition into society less problematic.
Executive director Pete Haun has even said parolees released to community halfway houses ought to pay the Department of Corrections more than they are -- an option being explored by the department.
Davis Count Sheriff's Capt. Jan Cunningham said authorities there are exploring all of the options available to have inmates pay for the costs they incur.
"We just started charging inmates for their commissary. If they are indigent, we give it to them, but they have to pay us back for being advanced. Philosophically, we are in agreement with what Washington County is doing. "
Salt Lake County, like Davis County, charges for commissary items.
"Why should the taxpayer get to shoulder all the burden?" Capt. Paul Cunningham asked. "Let the people who are actually using the jail pay for it."