Going to jail can be scary, humiliating and life-changing. It can also be expensive.
Jailbirds and their families face a litany of fees and above-average costs for everyday goods and services, including candy bars ($1.55), extra shampoo ($4.19) and the privilege to check a voice mail ($1.99). Just being booked into the jail costs $30 – like it or not.
Welcome to the La Plata County Jail, where nothing is free to prisoners beyond three meals a day and twice-a-week hygiene packs that consist of soap, shampoo, toothpaste and other essential toiletries. Want upgrades or an extra layer of clothes to stay warm? Hopefully, you came with cash, or are willing to pay the higher-than-average ATM fees to access your bank account.
“What happens in practice is people who are incarcerated don’t have a lot of money,” said Lauren-Brooke Eisen, a senior fellow at the Brennan Center, a criminal justice reform institution in New York. “There is a lot that incarcerated people are paying behind bars. As more jails and prisons charge fees for people behind bars, it really undermines re-entry prospects and starts to pave the way back to prison or jail.”
When an inmate first arrives at the La Plata County Jail, they must pay a $30 booking fee, the maximum amount a jail is permitted to charge by the government. Whatever cash they have on them goes into their personal jail account.
If they wish to add money to their account, they can do so by accessing their bank account from inside the jail, but they must pay a transfer fee. The transfer fee varies based on how much one wishes to transfer. Transfers up to $20 will cost $2.95, while transfers between $100 and $200 will cost $5.95.
“That commission on top of transferring money – that’s a lot,” Eisen said. “It’s a big burden on them and their families.”
Inmates who show up flat broke can ask for an indigent pack of goods free of charge, which includes pencils, papers, stamped envelopes and pain medication. If inmates have money in an account, they are ineligible to receive an indigent pack, said Lt. Gary Boudreau with the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office.
“It’s just basic needs, so no inmate, regardless of their financial situation, goes without certain basic things,” he said.
If inmates have money and want to buy additional clothes, food or hygiene products, they can do so through commissary, an online store offered by Trinity Services Group that is commonly used by prisons.
The prices for items through commissary can be steep. For example, a 12-ounce bottle of shampoo costs $4.19, a 15-ounce bottle of lotion costs $2.65, a birthday card costs $1.86 and a puzzle book costs $2.22. Prices are high to help offset the cost of indigent packs, Boudreau said.
“It’s above-average,” Boudreau said. “One of the ways we fund the hygiene packs is when inmates buy the candy bars and are overpaying for them. That money is being used for the fund to make sure that everybody gets the basic needs.”
Because inmates can use only the money they come to jail with, families often transfer money to inmates to help them pay for little items that make staying in jail a little nicer. But even the act of transferring money to an inmate comes with fees. The nickel-and-diming can be a financial hardship for families already down on their luck, said Noah Atchison, a researcher for the Brennan Center.
“These fees put a massive strain on families,” Atchison said. “This is particularly acute when a juvenile has been incarcerated. In addition to the trauma of having this family member incarcerated, now you have this massive debt load being put on you by the state. It can be enough to push people into really precarious situations financially.”
While fees for goods and services may be a hardship for those who can least afford it, contracting with private companies makes services available to inmates and their families that might not otherwise be provided. The fees that inmates and families must pay help cover those goods and services that otherwise would have to be paid for by taxpayers.
In 2018, La Plata County allocated $6.3 million for the jail, Boudreau said.
Family members who can afford a little extra can use a program called MyCarePacks, which allows people to send care packages to their loved ones in jail.
Making phone calls to loved ones will cost an inmate and/or family members money. The La Plata County Jail has a contract with Securus Technologies, a prison technology company, that allows inmates to make a 25-minute video call for $5.99. Think Skype, but with a price tag.
Out-of-state phone calls cost 25 cents a minute. For local calls, inmates pay $3 for the first minute, and 50 cents for each additional minute. In 2017, inmates made a total of 8,256 calls, totaling 146 hours, 53 minutes and 24 seconds. The average call lasted one minute and four seconds, which would cost $3.50.
Families cannot call the jail to speak with an inmate; rather, the call must be made from inside the jail. However, families can leave a voice mail, but if inmates want to listen to that voice mail, they must pony up $1.99.
Securus digitally records every phone call made by inmates. A pre-recorded voice tells inmates before the call that they are being recorded. Some inmates call their victim – an act that is often expressly forbidden – and the recorded calls can be used as part of criminal prosecutions, Boudreau said.
“It’s a huge boon to investigations,” he said.
The jail allows visitors to speak with inmates free of charge, but they have to sign up through Securus. The visits are done through a glass window with a phone on each side. Visitations are done on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Criminal defendants have the right to consult with an attorney. To help facilitate this, the jail provides three phone booths used strictly for inmates to speak with their attorneys, free of charge, Boudreau said. The calls are not recorded.
Inmates can leave jail owing money. If they return to jail, any cash they have can be applied to their previous debt. Likewise, if families want to leave money for a loved one, that money will be used to pay off any debt before being made available to the inmate.
“Oftentimes, these fees can be a significant barrier to the re-entry process after someone leaves prison or jail,” Atchison said. “Disproportionately poor people are the ones that are mostly involved in the justice system, so you’re already on shaky financial ground. It can mean when you do find a job, that it might not be enough for you to pay off that debt load in a reasonable amount of time.”
The court system has upheld the legality of jailhouse fees, characterizing them as administrative fees, Eisen said.
“They say it’s not meant to be punitive, but that it’s to offset the government’s cost,” she said.
The jail does not directly profit from such programs, but the for-profit companies do send a commission back to the jail. In 2017, Securus paid the jail $34,076 and Trinity sent $29,666 from MyCarePacks and commissary.
The jail used the funds for inmate services, which include clothing supplies, magazine and newspaper subscriptions and the GED program. The GED program alone costs the jail $20,000.
“There’s a lot of expenses in running a jail,” Boudreau said. “We’re definitely not collecting a profit by collecting these fees.”
Though not a permanent solution, Eisen hopes that in the coming years the amount of charges to inmates will be reduced and that more people become aware of the financial burden put on inmates.
“Incarcerated people are charged with really basic services,” she said. “There’s just less attention to what happens to someone after they get incarcerated.”
asemadeni@durangoherald.com
