Richmond jail to start charging inmates $1 a day
Richmond's overcrowded city jail will start charging inmates $1 day to be there.
The charge takes effect Wednesday, said Lt. Col. Walter Allmon of the city sheriff's department.
"It's to help pay for the cost of operating the jail," he said.
It costs about $46 per inmate, per day to cover the jail's operating and administrative costs, city budget documents show. The $1-a-day charge could raise more than $500,000 a year toward the $30 million annual cost of running the jail.
Virginia has allowed sheriffs to charge inmates for their stays since 2003, and this year the legislature increased the maximum amount from $1 a day to $5. Chesterfield County has levied the $1 charge for two years.
Allmon said the money would be billed to inmates' accounts, which the jail sets up for them so they can have cash to pay for phone calls and snacks from the canteen. The money comes from what cash they have when they're arrested and from what their families send them.
Allmon said the sheriff's office won't sue inmates if they are indigent and don't have money. But he said any unpaid balance will carry over from one arrest to another, so if an inmate returns and has money in his account at that time, it will go first to pay off the charge.
The Richmond jail routinely houses nearly twice the number of men and women it was designed to hold when it was built four decades ago. Until recently, it was common for dozens of male inmates to sleep on mattresses on the floor of the jail's largest dormitory cells, but new triple-decker bunk beds have eased that problem.
Sheriff C.T. Woody has said hundreds of the 1,500 men and women housed in the jail on any given day shouldn't be there. Some are mentally ill, while others are awaiting trial on petty charges and can't get out because they can't afford even a $30 bond.
Pamunkey Regional Jail, which serves Hanover and Caroline counties and the town of Ashland, charges a fee for people serving weekends-only sentences; the fee generates about $29,000 a year. The after-hours desk deputy at Henrico County Jail-West said inmates there aren't charged.
Contact David Ress at (804) 649-6051 or
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Reader Reactions
I agree, someone mentioned earlier about reimbursement if the inmate was found not guilty. There should be a method of refunding money to the inmate…if the jail staff is so “Greasy” about going after past due money owed by previous visits by any inmate, then they should make efforts to give back any money they take from the inmate or any money owed by the inmate if this inmate is found not guilty or nolle prossed, etc.
This is ridiculous. I know this fact may be hard to believe, but sometimes people get locked up when they are not guilty of the crime. Also, canteen is used to purchase necessities; should we just let them go without toothpaste and extra tees? What is going on with the City lately? Are they all drinking from the Dense Fountain?
Inmates breaking the law are not the responsibility of their families unless they are juveniles. However, families bear the burden of any charges to inmates, such as phone calls (if you want to stay in touch, maybe for years) and these charges are unbelievably high as are canteen charges for necessities and medical services and medicines. All of these things bring profit to the jails.
I agree they should not be pampered but with terrible food, it is nice to know you can give your child an occasional treat by putting a little money in their account now and then without worrying that it will be taken by the jail.
Let the inmates do some work to offset their keep instead of burdening the families more.
The city should not only pay a refund if acquitted, but should also pay a penalty and interest. Just like the city departments want to charge the public if they are late with a tax payment, a penalty of some sort should be paid for one having to go through the hassle of collecting this money.
More times than not, the person getting the reimbursement will be paid with a check. If cash was taken from the accused, then cash should be returned. Not a check. The reimbursement checks will end up being cashed at one of those little check-cashing places and the accused will only get a portion of what they had to pay while awaiting trial. So a penalty is justified. As for the interest, not only should the accused get the going rate for savings, but they should also be compensated with inflation being taken into consideration. A dollar a year ago is worth less than one today.
My statements may sound petty as you read but when you put it in context up against a STUPID policy of stripping a dollar a day from someone who is probably losing everything they have…..... Talk about petty.
I can see why they would need to offset the costs, but these things end up punishing many of us who did not commit any crimes - the families and friends. We are the ones asked to put money in those accounts referenced in the article. I am a law abiding citizen who does not want to have to pay because I have a family member who isn’t.
Thanks Patrick!
Take a look at SB 1199(leg1.state.va.us). The bill passed the General Assembly increasing the fee from $1 to $5, however, the Governor sent down a recommendation that was adopted by the General Assembly this past Wednesday (during reconvene) that lowers the fee to $3 and includes a provision that allows a refund if the inmate is acquitted.
If it costs $46 a day to house the criminals, why are we only charging them $1 a day? Why not $46 a day? Maybe one way we can cut down on crime is to pass a law that tells parents of juveniles that if their kid commits a crime they’re going to pay for his incarceration. Would the parents then become better parents by making it clear to their kids that they’re going to behave or they’ll bankrupt the whole family? I don’t know, but it’s something to try.
i think if you are found guilty of a crime that requires jail time/fines; your fines should include the jail time given in advance. you were told to serve 30 days; 30 x 46.00 = 1380.00. this amount should be added to the fine total and that is that. i don’t like (as a tax payer) to have to pay for these people who will not obey laws to keep us safe. if you do the crime you should pay for your jail time too. a deterant? probably not, but it’s a responcibilty the guilty party needs to be given..
What happens if a person is found to be not-guilty? Would they get a refund?
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