Minn. Supreme Court limits fees for jail inmates

In a decision that affects several Minnesota counties, the Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that jails must stop charging inmates for room and board prior to their convictions.

At issue was a state statute commonly referred to as "pay for stay," which allowed counties to bill people convicted of crimes for costs of their confinement preceding and following a conviction.

The ruling came Thursday in the case of a former Olmsted County inmate, Andrew Tyler Jones. Overall, Jones spent 286 days in the jail and was billed $25 per day, for over $7,000 in all. But only seven of those days were after his 2005 sentencing on robbery charges.

Jones sued the county, claiming it was wrong to require him to pay for pre-conviction confinement costs. A district judge disagreed. Jones then appealed to the Minnesota Court of Appeals, which also ruled in favor of the county.

Bradford Colbert, a state public defender who teaches law at the William Mitchell College of Law and argued Jones' case before the Supreme Court, said it was wrong to charge Jones for the time before he was convicted because he had to be presumed innocent.

The Minnesota Supreme Court agreed and reversed the earlier rulings. It said the law allows counties to require offenders to pay for "the cost of the offender's room, board, clothing, medical, dental and other correctional services." But the court said an offender is a person who's been convicted of a crime.

"We hold that a county may require persons to pay the costs of their confinement, but only the costs of confinement incurred after conviction," the ruling said.

Winona County charges the highest rate in the state at $65 a day, according to its sheriff's department, and the ruling could mean thousands of dollars in lost revenue for the county.

"I don't really agree with it," said Winona County Sheriff's Capt. Steve Buswell, the county's jail administrator. "I think that taxpayers shouldn't be burdened, and if there's a chance to collect some offsetting costs, we should be able to do it."

Winona County brought in nearly $90,000 in 2008 under pay for stay. Jailers sought money only from the inmates they thought would be able to pay, Buswell said. He estimated that Winona County will lose about 25 percent of those revenues going forward.

Sherburne County Sheriff Joel Brott said his jail charges county inmates $35 a day. Brott said he would change the policy immediately.

The Benton County jail charges $25 a day for county inmates. Sheriff Brad Bennett said he and the county attorney would go through the court decision and change policies as needed.

Stearns County Sheriff John Sanner said he also would go through the ruling and make necessary changes. His county charges inmates $20 a day.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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