New inmate fees at the Lawrence County Jail have returned some of the county’s investment in a pay-for-stay program.

Thursday, August 24, 2000

New inmate fees at the Lawrence County Jail have returned some of the county’s investment in a pay-for-stay program.

"It’s going well with the program itself but it will be a while before we’ll see the overall effect," said Brian Deer, jail administrator.

In the three weeks that prisoners have paid $50 daily housing and other fees for jail stays, the county has collected about $1,700, Deer said.

"We’re getting 70 percent of that and that’s good, considering this time last year we weren’t getting anything," he said.

Pay-for-stay is a prisoner reimbursement policy that saves taxpayer money by having inmates pay for some of their incarceration costs and medical and dental expenses, said Sheriff Roy Smith, who oversees the jail.

The county’s adoption of the program came about to reduce rising costs of jail operations, Smith said.

"We had to do something to recover some of the expense because the jail takes so much out of our budget that could be better used to improve the many other services the sheriff’s office provides to the people of the county," he said.

County commissioners and jail authorities contracted with Intellitech, a Youngstown company that manages pay-for-stay programs around the state, to install equipment and help the county run its program.

Intellitech combines computer technology with Ohio’s Cost Recovery legislation, which allows law enforcement agencies to charge inmate fees, Smith said.

The jail receives no fine distribution funds from inmates, so the county was taking the brunt of the cost to house prisoners, he said.

The new computer system changes that, Smith added.

In general, the plan uses Intellitech forms when prisoners are booked, which alert them to the fee, the first collection measure. Other times during their stay and at release, inmates are asked for the fee. Computer systems track inmate costs and invoices.

If the county collects at any time while prisoners are at the jail, it receives 70 percent of the fees. Intellitech would receive 30 percent of the fees.

If Intellitech collects fees after an inmate is released, the company receives 70 percent of the fee and the county gets 30 percent.

Funds collected locally through the program are held in a depository account under county control, with disbursements made to Intellitech each month, Smith said.

Intellitech also returns the county’s portion of funds it collects, and is permitted to use collection methods permitted under the Ohio Collections Law and the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, he said.

County commissioners have not discussed plans for using funds from the pay-for-stay fees.