Daily News-Record "Justice Matters" Column

By KEVIN DREXEL Jun 28, 2025  

'Keep fees' from inmates shift costs to impoverished communities

One practice in Virginia jails that perpetuates the cycle of incarceration is the practice of “Keep Fees” or charging inmates daily rent.

We are led to believe that public funds cover all the costs of incarceration and the operation of our jails. However, jails shift many of these costs onto inmates and their families through excessive fees charged to inmates and through inflated private contracts with private vendors. Vendors commonly offer kickbacks (“bribery”) for signing them up.

A significant percentage of costs for rent, food, communications, hygiene products, and clothing are ultimately passed on to families trying to assist loved ones with basic material and other needs while incarcerated.

Hadar Aviram, a professor at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, comments, “Public prisons are public only by name. These days, you pay for everything in prison.”

According to the Brennan Center, the result is “an estimated 10 million people who owe more than $50 billion resulting from their involvement in the criminal justice system.”

As a 2021 Vera Institute report clarifies, “Fees are not the same as fines. Fines are intended to serve as punishment, whereas fees and surcharges are explicitly designed to raise revenue for the government.

But both fines and fees bring governments revenue as if they were taxes, and this method of funding government inflicts considerable harm on already impoverished communities.”

Examples of proliferating fees, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, are “charges for police transport, case filing, felony surcharges, electronic monitoring, drug testing, and sex offender registration.”

Among the more egregious of these are keep fees, the daily rent jails across the country charge inmates while incarcerated. In Virginia, these run from $1 per day at our local jail to $3 at Middle River Regional Jail, the maximum allowed in the Commonwealth. Such fees disproportionately harm low-income families as the median annual income of a person incarcerated hovers around $19,000. Thus, the multiple jail fees charged could be seen as a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s constitutional protection against excessive fines.

In a 9-0 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Justice Clarence Thomas noted that excessive fines were used after the Civil War to re-enslave freed men. In 2019, the New York Times published an article titled “Slavery gave America a fear of black people and a taste for violent punishment- Both still define our criminal-justice system,” in which the author notes that we cannot understand the excessive punishment that permeates the U.S. mass incarceration system without understanding its roots in the legacy of slavery. The article further states, “Laws governing slavery were replaced with Black Codes governing free black people, making the criminal-justice system central to new strategies of racial control.”

It was in the early 1990s that a Chicago law clerk wrote an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune suggesting that inmates with financial assets should earn their room and board through prison labor and pay rent to cover the increased costs of operating jail and prison facilities due to overcrowding.

One of the results of this fee system is that when someone is released from jail or prison, they are often deeply in debt and have very few financial resources. This only perpetuates the cycle of incarceration by burdening former inmates and their families and by creating hurdles that prevent them from successfully reintegrating into society.

Brittany Friedman, a sociologist at the University of Southern California, has done extensive research that shows that jail debt increases the cost of incarceration and that the devastating effects of jail debt can be far-reaching. Dr. Friedman states, “If pay-to-stay is really meant to offset the costs of incarcerating people, then why are we sticking them with a bill that then further tethers them to the system?”

Keep fees may also contribute to inmates on meager jail fares going hungry while incarcerated since any attempt by friends or family to add money to their commissary account to supplement their diet is partially seized by the jail to offset the keep fee debt. This exacerbates hunger and mental distress and is clearly wrong.

Fortunately, some state and national groups are working to address some of the injustices of excessive fees in jails and prisons, but regrettably, this has not been true of jails in the Valley.

Kevin Drexel is the founder of Stand 4 Count, working to support the needs of individuals, families, and marginalized groups impacted by incarceration, and is a part of the local Valley Justice Coalition, a local citizen voice for criminal justice reform in our community and in the Commonwealth since 2014.

Kevin Drexel is the founder of Stand 4 Count, working to support the needs of individuals, families, and marginalized groups impacted by incarceration, and is a part of the local Valley Justice Coalition, a local citizen voice for criminal justice reform in our community and in the Commonwealth 

Spring Issue Of A Newsletter For Prisoners

 HARD TIME VIRGINIA Vol. 9, No. 1

An occasional newsletter by and for incarcerated persons in Virginia. Harvey Yoder, editor

Jail Cost Shifting Creates Financial Crisis for the Poor  - Kevin Drexel

It is a misnomer to believe the public covers all the costs of incarceration and operations of jails. Jails shift the cost burdens of operations onto inmates and their families through excessive fees charged to inmates and through inflated private contracts with private vendors who provide food, clothing, and communications. 

     Vendors will offer kickbacks (“bribes”) to get county administrators to sign up. The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy released a hard-hitting video on the matter. A must see.  

     These costs — rent, food, communications, hygiene, and clothing — are passed on to families trying to assist loved ones with basic material and emotional needs while incarcerated. Many of these families end up in debt and in financial distress. Excessive Fees disproportionately harm low-income families as the median annual income of a person incarcerated hovers around $19,000.

     Hadar Aviram, a professor at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, comments that “Public prisons are public only by name. These days, you pay for everything in prison.”

A Growing Practice

     “There are an estimated 10 million people who owe more than $50 billion resulting from their involvement in the criminal justice system… In the last few decades, fees have proliferated, such as charges for police transport, case filing, felony surcharges, electronic monitoring, drug testing, and sex offender registration.”

Fees versus Fines

     “Fees are not the same as fines. Fines are intended to serve as punishment, whereas fees and surcharges are explicitly designed to raise revenue for the government. But both fines and fees bring governments revenue as if they were taxes, and this method of funding government inflicts considerable harm on already impoverished communities” according to the Vera Institute in their 2021 report “The High Price of Using Justice Fines and Fees to Fund Government in Virginia.”  

     Let’s look at one of the most egregious fees – “Keep Fees”.

Keep Fees or Daily Rent

     Keep Fees are the daily rent jails across the country charge inmates while incarcerated and can run from $3 per day to as high as $60 per day in some parts of the country. In Eaton County Michigan, the jail bills you $32 per day. The reality is Keep Fees vary by state in terms of the maximum allowed to be charged and vary within the states by county in terms of practice on how high they bump up to the maximum.

The Eighth Amendment and Link to Slavery

     Some legal experts argue that these keep fees violate the Eighth Amendment constitutional protection against excessive fines. In a 9-0 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Clarence Thomas noted that excessive fines were used after the civil war to re-enslave freed men.

     In a New York Times article titled “Slavery gave America a fear of black people and a taste for violent punishment. Both still define our criminal-justice system,” the author notes that we cannot understand excessive punishment that permeates the U.S. mass incarceration system without understanding its roots in the legacy of slavery. 

Kevin recently spent 30 days in a Virginia jail, and posted this on his new Stand4Count website.

Work Court: A Proposed Alternative To Incarceration - Harvey Yoder

One of the more obvious signs of good citizenship is individuals holding down a good job, showing up regularly for work, providing for their families, keeping up with their bills, paying their taxes, and otherwise helping the economy and avoiding being a burden to society. The current unemployment rate in Virginia, at 3%, represents adults of working age who are less likely to be contributing to their communities in these ways.

     Sadly, among those in the latter group are the more than 60,000 men and women in the Commonwealth confined in our jails and prisons. So as a concerned tax paying citizen I would offer the following modest proposal:

     That anyone charged with an offense who has a steady job, is paying taxes and providing for themselves and for their families will not receive sentences that result in their losing their employment unless they are a clear danger to their community. Alternatives to incarceration could include paying appropriate fines, being under house arrest except for work, having an extended probation period, being on electronic monitoring, and/or serving time at night and on weekends.

     I recently became acquainted with a local breadwinner who was within months of completing his probation when he was given an 18 month sentence for a probation violation. During the five years since completing his prison term he had kept a good paying job, paid off all his court fines and fees, gotten married, bought a home, bettered himself financially and remained law-abiding and infraction free. Then he made the bad mistake of violating one of the terms of his probation, which is a "technical violation" but not something that would be considered a crime for anyone not under court supervision.

     This individual acknowledges his mistake and was prepared to accept some kind of consequence, but due to what he felt was poor representation by his court appointed attorney, was sentenced to serve another year and a half sentence in prison, losing his job and putting his spouse in financial straits in the process.

     One of our community's more creative and effective alternatives to incarceration has been the local Drug Court initiated and championed by Commonwealth's Attorney Marsha Garst. Rather than having those with substance use disorders serving time behind bars at an average annual cost to taxpayers of over $25,000 per inmate, individuals in the Drug Court program are subject to regular drug screens, are enrolled in substance abuse programs, and meet with Judge Bruce Albertson for a check-in every Thursday noon at the Circuit Court. They are closely monitored and are regularly encouraged, promoted to a higher level, reprimanded, demoted, and/or graduated. If they relapse, they must start the program all over again.

     So I'm wondering if a similar kind of "Work Court" program (perhaps meeting at night) could be created as an effective and corrective alternative to jail or prison time. In my mind this could be a win/win/win for 1) taxpayers, 2) our overcrowded jails and 3) all of the individuals, families and communities involved.

     Needlessly warehousing working people in cages hurts families, adds to human services costs, reduces tax revenues, has a negative effect on our economy, and creates an added strain on local and state budgets.

     We can do better than that.

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Harvey Yoder is chair of the Valley Justice Coalition, P.O. Box 434, Harrisonburg, VA 22803

Update On Release For Geriatric Prisoners

Secretary of Public Safety Brian Moran

This just in from:

Carla Peterson

Director, Virginia CURE
P.O Box 2310

Vienna , VA
tel:703-272-3624
email: carla4vacure@gmail.com

Office Of The Governor

Patrick Henry Building, 

Richmond, VA 23218
https://www.virginia.gov/agencies/office-of-the-governor/

Dear Governor Ralph Northam:

We understand that Governor Andrew Cuomo and Governor Gavin Newsome among others in other states are considering using emergency powers to reduce prison crowding  and to mitigate the spread of diseases. We urge you do likewise to save lives.

We request that you consider immediately:

1) Release all medically fragile adults and adults over the age of 60 to parole supervision. Jails and prisons house many people with chronic illnesses and complex medical needs, who are more vulnerable to becoming seriously ill and requiring more medical care with COVID-19. And the growing number of older adults in prisons are at higher risk for serious complications from a viral infection like COVID-19. Releasing these vulnerable groups from prison and jail will reduce the need to provide complex medical care or transfers to hospitals when staff will be stretched thin. To those who do not have families or others that can offer housing, they should be released to re-entry facilities. 

2) Release all people who have an anticipated release date in 2020 and 2021 to parole supervision.  People who have been sentenced to brief sentences and who would be released soon should be released immediately. This will limit overcrowding and free up beds in facilities that will be needed to care for the sick. These people are overwhelmingly in low-level security. 

3) Expedite review processes for people already found suitable for release. For all people who have been found suitable for parole by the Board of Parole Hearings, we ask that you expedite the review process and release these parole candidates. We ask that your office also direct increased resources to addressing the proposed release process and grant all worthy applications expeditiously.

4) Immediately suspend all unnecessary parole meetings. People deemed “low risk” should not be required to spend hours traveling to and from, particularly on public transportation, and waiting in administrative buildings for brief meetings with their parole officers. As many people as possible should be allowed to check in by telephone.  Further, people on parole who have been under supervision for three years or longer and have not had an arrest within the last 12 months should be discharged from supervision. 

5) Eliminate parole revocations for technical violations.  Parole officers and others should cease seeking warrants for behaviors that, for people not on parole would not warrant incarceration. Reducing these unnecessary incarcerations would reduce the risk of transmitting a virus between the facilities -- jails and prisons -- and the community.

6) Lift all fees for calls to family members. As VDOC has limited visits to people who are incarcerated, it is critical that people who are incarcerated be able to communicate with their family members and loved ones. All phone calls made by those who are incarcerated to their family members and loved ones should be made free during such time as family visits are limited. 

7) Insist that VDOC adequately address how they will care for people who are incarcerated. In addition to taking steps to immediately address overcrowding, all people who remain in custody should be cared for. To the extent that if this means that VDOC will do widespread lockdowns or isolating people without care, this is both cruel and inadequate.  At the very minimum, all people who are incarcerated must have access to hand sanitizer which should be made widely available and possession of hand sanitizer should be allowed. Appropriate medications and treatment should be available to all without cost. People who are sick should be cared for by appropriate medical staff.

Governor, we know you take seriously your duty to protect the lives of people living and working in VDOC prisons. As you know, the health, well-being and the lives of these people are in your hands. We urge you to take immediate and decisive action now to save lives. We will support you in taking the necessary, actions now to protect the health of every Virginian, including the most vulnerable.

If other states can consider doing it, so can Virginia.

Sincerely, 

John Horejsi, Coordinator  jhorejsi@cox.net

Social Action Linking Together (SALT)

9610 Counselor Drive

Vienna, VA 22181

cc:  Brian Moran

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Here's a response from Secretary Moran's office:

From: m.mizrahi@governor.virginia.gov 

On Behalf Of Brian Moran

Sent: Friday, March 20, 2020 4:22 PM

To: jhorejsi <jhorejsi@cox.net>

Subject: Re: VDOC Message to Governor Ralph Northam:

Good afternoon, 

Thank you for reaching out; we are actively engaging with stakeholders on these issues. Our Public Safety and Homeland Security team has spoken with local law-enforcement officers, Commonwealth's attorneys, and sheriffs to discuss the current state of emergency and to hear from teams on the ground. As I am sure you are aware, decisions are being made in real time and we are working quickly to develop strategies to address the situation.

The Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC) has closed down all in-person visitation to state correctional facilities and is complying with CDC guidelines related to COVID-19. VADOC has also suspended all transfers from local and regional jails for 30 days following the Governor's Emergency Declaration on March 12th to limit potential exposure to the virus. We are doing everything we can to ensure the health and safety of our VADOC employees and residents of our facilities. VADOC, in partnership with Assisting Families of Inmates (AFOI) and JPay, is supporting video visitation and additional phone calls so residents may communicate regularly with family and friends.

As a reminder, local and regional jails are not managed by the state. Local authorities may be able to provide more specific information about local and regional jail facilities and their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yesterday, the Governor issued additional guidance regarding local and state public safety agencies, that press release may be found here. 

Please direct further correspondence to my policy advisor, Jacquelyn Katuin (jacquelyn.katuin@governor.virginia.gov) as she will be more readily available to answer questions. I am part of Unified Command and doing everything I can to manage this unprecedented crisis for our 8.4 million Virginians.  

Yours in service, 

Brian Moran

***************************************

Here's a link to contact the Virginia Parole Board: 
https://vpb.virginia.gov/contact/

Prisoner Rights And Jail House Wrongs

By law, the following rights are guaranteed for those incarcerated:

Cruel and Unusual Punishments - Every inmate has the right to be free under the Eighth Amendment from inhumane treatment or anything that could be considered "cruel and unusual" punishment. Note: Unfortunately, the Eighth Amendment does not clearly define what "cruel and unusual" punishment includes, meaning much of the definition has derived from case law. Generally speaking, any punishment that is considered inhumane treatment, like torture or abuse, or a violation of a person's basic dignity may be considered cruel and unusual within the discretion of the court.

Sexual Harassment or Sex Crimes - Inmates have a right to be free from sexual harassment or sex crimes, like being raped or molested while in custody. This applies to crimes or harassment from both inmates and prison personnel.

Right to Complain About Prison Conditions and Access to the Courts - Inmates have the right both to complain about prison conditions and to voice their concerns to prison officials and the courts.

Disabled Prisoners - Inmates with disabilities are entitled to certain reasonable accommodations under the American with Disabilities Act to ensure they receive the same access to prison facilities as those who are not disabled.

Medical and Mental Health Care - Prisoners are entitled to receive medical care and mental health treatment. These treatments are only required to be "adequate," not the best available or even the standard treatment for those outside of incarceration.

First Amendment Rights - Inmates retain basic First Amendment rights (i.e., free speech and religion) to the extent that the exercise of those rights does not interfere with their status as inmates.

Discrimination - Inmates have the right to be free from discrimination while imprisoned. This includes racial segregation, disparate treatment based on ethnicity or religion, preferences based on age, etc,.

In practice, the following are some of the wrongs routinely experienced by those behind bars:

1. Most do not have adequate access to the law library or legal materials and are allowed only one year to appeal a case.

2. Work opportunities are limited for the many inmates who would like a job, and wages for those who work average less than $1 an hour.

3. Many jails and prisons do not provide needed educational or rehabilitation programs.

4. Most provide inferior and inadequate dental, medical and mental health care. 

5. Most meals meet only minimal nutritional standards and are nutritionally less than adequate for inmates who work out or are otherwise physically active. 

6. A large number of people in jails are awaiting their trials and have not been convicted of a crime. Unable to make bail, they are housed with convicted and sometimes dangerous felons. 

7. Most prisons require inmates to live in cells the size of an average bathroom, and some have more than two inmates per cell.

8. Most prison cells and dormitories do not have call boxes (intercoms) or other communication device inmates could use to contact someone if and when emergency assistance is needed.

9. Officers often do not make regular bed checks as required, and are mostly seen on the floor only during designated counts. 

10. As a matter of health and human rights, all correctional facilities without good natural ventilation  and exhaust fans should have operational air-conditioning units installed to protect those inside from the danger of excessive heat.

11. Drinking water may not always be checked regularly to ensure it is safe and healthy.

12. Most jails charge inmates a keep fee for their incarceration in addition to the punishment imposed by the court. This should be declared illegal.

13. Phone services and commissary items are typically overpriced and their costs regularly increase even though prison wages remain flat.

Note: Most of the above items are reported by prisoners with whom I am in contact.

HARD TIME VIRGINIA Vol. II, No. 3 (news by, about and for inmates in the Commonwealth)

Minor Junior Smith, 70,
legally blind and incarcerated
for 45 years. One of his
poems appears below.

Number of Aging US Inmates Rising Rapidly 
According to Human Rights Watch, sentenced state and federal prisoners age 65 and older represent the fastest growing group inmates in US prisons. Because of higher rates of illness and impairments, the cost of caring for them is three to nine times higher than for younger inmates, although the likelihood of their reoffending greatly diminishes with age.
     In spite of that, the Virginia Parole Board is slow to release aging persons who are no longer a likely threat to their communities. For the month of March I could find no record of any geriatric releases, period, on the Board's website. Likewise in April there were no geriatric releases among the 23 parole grants, and in May only one of the 13 inmates released was in that category.
     A meeting to form a Rockingham County chapter of RAPP (Release Aging Persons in Prison) is being held in Harrisonburg July 22.

Electric Fans Become A Real Hot Item
Since most of the concrete and steel facilities operated by the Department of Corrections facilities have no air conditioning, their oven-like summer temperatures feel almost impossible to endure in the summer.
     Solution? Sell overpriced $30 fans to the inmates, who pay for them with money earned by hard work in the heat (at .50 to $1 an hour) or who can persuade their loved ones at home to provide them with the money they need.
     DOC has a pretty good business model here--create an intense need to cool off, then provide the solution at a hefty profit through a monopoly-owned commissary. Likewise with food. Provide inmates with only the minimum required daily calories, then charge them $2.52 for a pint of ice cream.

New And Degrading Visitation Policies
From a Virginia DOC inmate: "The newly mandated visitation jumpsuits are the most humiliating attire anyone could design. And there is a crazy bathroom procedure that requires an inmate to be strip searched and escorted to the Medical Department just to take a water break. Then to return to their visit they must be strip searched all over again. Having an offender endure all this is to make them want to stop getting a visit."

Conditions At Local Jails Create Daily Hardships
This is a quote from an inmate at one of the larger regional jails in Virginia: “As far as this facility goes, even the minimum security inmates are locked down 18 hours a day in a two-bunk cell about 11 feet by 6 feet. If the jail is short-staffed, we are locked down longer. One day I was sent to Medical Segregation due to food poisoning from the outdated milk they served us. These cells are unsanitary and way worse than general population cells, and you are locked down 23-24 hours a day."
     It's sad when animals at our local SPCA are often given better care than people in our jails and prisons.

********************************

"Rambling Fever"

by Minor Junior Smith, now 70, recalling his prodigal youth

I had rambling fever, although I had not been paying a lot of attention to Merle.

About a block from the apartment, a feminine voice yelled out: "Don't leave that girl!"

I couldn't foresee what I would possibly gain by visiting poor Susan Cleaver.

To witness her family's desolate lives again would merely make me a miserable griever.

My head spun as I passed Krogers and Sears and I turned right onto Route 460.

Discouraged beforehand, I was neither going to Chattanooga nor down through Dixie.

While hitchhiking alongside that highway, I thought that I should have worn red.

Finally, I rode through Montgomery County and had failed to stop for step-mom's cornbread.

Entertained by Rock music, the salesman and I went directly to a Bluefield jewelry store.

Inside, I bought the smallest and most expensive transistor radio I'd ever seen before.

Out on that West Virginia highway, I grew tired of walking and was just a thumbing.

Then, from a house, a little boy ran up to me and said, "Hey, Mister, ain't nobody a coming."

His daddy was all ready to take him to a Cub Scout meeting to be with other little boys.

At once, a Greyhound bus stopped; I paid my fare then and cruised all the way to Chicago, Illinois.

Like a normal American citizen, I wandered around inside the terminal and got lost.

Eventually, some other travelers and I took a bus to Kalamazoo, having shared the cost.

Way into the night, that city's YMCA wanted my transistor but didn't have enough room for me.

Therefore, I checked in at the Police Station, where I was booked for vagrancy.

After a stay in jail and breakfast the next morning, though, I wasn't holding a grudge.

Later on, however, I lacked self-confidence when an officer escorted me before a judge.

His Honor desired to know where I was from and what type of work I had done there.

In my explanation, I also informed him that I had spent most of my money on a bus fare.

The Clerk of the Court jotted down the address to a laundry, then sent me on my way.

That address, nevertheless, led me to a vacant lot during the early part of that day.

Sadly, I realized that the business must have burnt down on arriving at the place.

Or, that the Clerk of Court had sent me all of that distance on a wild-goose chase.

I left that bare site flustered and about ready to rejoin the Deluxe Laundry crowd.

Soon, a motorist gave me a lift towards Louisiana, having laughed out loud.

Actually, as I dozed, he took me near his college campus in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

When I missed my radio afterwards, a realization struck me that he hadn't been my Santa.

An uncontrollable vim compelled me, as though I were trying to see the entire nation.

Broke as a convict, way past midnight, I rambled into the Ohio Police Station.

A detective allowed me to take a nap on a bench in the back until the crack of dawn.

He had awakened me, handed me a dollar bill, and said, "Young man, you'd better move on."

Outside of Cincinnati, I drifted across the Ohio River Bridge under the new morning sun.

There were a few different available routes at an intersection, so I selected one.

Perhaps the primary reason I hadn't found a job was because I had not applied for any.

Well, periodically, I did consider the idea during my desertion, while I was turning twenty.

Near sundown, a big fellow took me to a friendly tavern outside of Ashland, Kentucky.

Through a couple of beers, I jabbered on to him about how my life had been so unlucky.

Recuperating at his motel, I bathed, shaved; then I turned in and thought about Jennifer.

I contemplated on our problems, pleasures, and the places I had been with her.

Come morning, I thanked my friend for his hospitality, and he must have taken me to be a troublesome kid.

Knowing that I needed employment, he said that I could not do the kind of work that be did.

I rode through Charleston, West Virginia with a man, who bore the characteristics of a priest.

He gave me a dollar, too, besides that, his black and white apparel was neatly creased.

Next, a sportsman stopped his Jaguar; then we sped off to Atlanta, Georgia's out skirts.

Throughout that night, I pondered over my life and recalled how badly doing without hurts.

Aw, but, to survive in life, sometimes you do what you have to do, if you do anything at all.
Consequently, I decided to return to my job in Roanoke, Virginia, even if I had to crawl.

Some Questions For Local Candidates

Harrisonburg/Rockingham Regional Jail

"First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for rulers and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

I Timothy 2:1-2 (emphases mine)

While not a member of any political party, I would really like to know where local candidates stand on the following:

Questions for Mr. Bryan Hutcheson, Sheriff (running unopposed):

1. Do you favor discontinuing the use of the restraint chair and/or the isolated padded cell for suicidally depressed and mentally ill inmates at our local jail (a total of 32 times for the first six months of 2015 alone)? (most area jails have no isolated padded cell, and Middle River Regional Jail, we are told, uses the restraint chair very rarely, and only for incorrigible inmates)

2. Would you consider following the practice of other local and regional jails and not have inmates in handcuffs when meeting with their families (in the totally secure visitor area separated by glass and concrete) or when they are moved to and from approved classes or other groups?

3. Would you be willing to phase out the use of orange or red striped jail garb in favor of denims and cotton shirts such as are commonly worn in state prisons?

4. Would you support reducing the cost of phone service and commissary items that add a financial burden to the families of inmates, along with the $1 per day "rent" cost generally borne by inmate families?

5. Would you support allowing qualified volunteers provide emergency mental health services and offer more GED or other educational programs for interested inmates?

Questions for Ms. April Moore, Mr. Mark Obenshain, State Senate candidates,
 Tony Wilt, House of Delegates candidate (unopposed),
Ms. Marsha Garst, Commonwealth's Attorney (unopposed) and (for items 1-5), Board of Supervisors candidates Michael Breeden, Fred Eberly, and Michael Breeden:

1. Do you support a more active oversight role by the local Community Criminal Justice Board as recommended by the Moseley Architect's Community Corrections Plan in its December, 2014 report? 

2. Are you in favor of the CCJB carefully considering the recommendations made for reducing incarceration that are in the above Community Corrections Plan as adopted by City Council, the Board of Supervisors and the CCJB in December, 2014?

3. Do you support ongoing funding for re-entry and rehabilitation programs like the Harrisonburg Diversion Center, and Gemeinschaft Home (Rockingham County)?

4. Do you support automatic bail bond for offenders who are gainfully employed (and/or a full time student) except in extreme cases of their being an immediate threat to community safety?

5. Would you support legislation banning the use of the restraint chair and the isolated padded cell for mentally ill and suicidally depressed inmates in our jails?

6. Do you support recent proposals to restore voting rights to rehabilitated offenders?

7. Do you support greater utilization of Virginia’s Geriatric Parole Statute (Code § 53.1-40.01) as a way of reducing the growing cost of health care for aging inmates who no longer pose any danger to society?

8. Do you favor reinstating some form of parole in Virginia and offering reduced time for inmates who utilize every opportunity to rehabilitate themselves in prison and prepare for effective reentry?

9. Would you support all inmates being supplied with the ID they need to be able to apply for jobs, driver's licenses, etc., upon release?

*************************************************************

Address your own questions and concerns to:

Bryan Hutcheson bhutcheson@rockinghamcountyva.gov

April Moore april@shentel.net

Mark Obenshain mdo@lolawfirm.com

Tony Wilt http://delegatewilt.com/links/

Marsha Garst mgarst@rockinghamcountyva.gov

Michael Breeden mbreeden@rockinghamcountyva.gov

Fred Eberly feberly@rockinghamcountyva.gov

William Kyger, Jr. bkyger@rockinghamcountyva.gov

For other posts related to criminal justice, type in a topic of interest in the small search bar in the far upper left side of the screen.