Five Reasons Jails Should Abolish 'Keep Fees’

Jails are to provide for both the care and custody of inmates.

In recent decades Virginia sheriffs have been permitted, but not mandated, to impose a daily fee of $1-3 per inmate as a way of recovering some of the costs of operating their jail. Here we charge $1, which raises about 7/10th of one percent of our jail’s annual budget of over $10 million. Detainees transferred from here to the Middle River Jail (due to local overcrowding) are charged $3 per day, which for a family earning $25,000 a year is 4% of their income.

Here are five good reasons for abolishing such fees:

1. It’s an "excessive fine” (see Eighth Amendment), not because of its amount, but because it is “in excess of” what a court has already established as the just punishment for a sentenced person’s offense.

2. While the sheriff is acting within his rights, it sets an unusual precedent to have a law enforcement officer determining and imposing any kind of additional sanction, thereby taking on a role as a judge and lawmaker in addition to that of law enforcer.

3. We’re assured jailed individuals aren’t forced to pay this fee, but unless they do so they cannot access the commissary, and may not have phone service except for collect calls. Nor can they have other things the jail doesn’t provide, such as medical co-pays, coffee, condiments (ketchup or mayonnaise packs, etc.) or snack foods. But if the fee is a legitimate one, legally imposed by the sheriff, one would normally expect it to be enforced. Meanwhile, inmates find clandestine ways of getting canteen items through their cellmates’ accounts.

4. Since most inmates have no way of paying keep fees while incarcerated, it is unfair to have their loved ones feel pressed to do so, since they are not the ones who should be punished. Even $1 per day creates an unfair burden for families who have just lost a wage earner and who may be living on or below the poverty level, as opposed to families who can easily afford to pay it. In addition, there is a $4 transaction fee for every deposit, large or small, made in an inmate’s account. This means inmates who are well to do or who come from well off families can pay their fees and make as many phone calls—and purchase as many canteen items—as they wish, while  those who live on or near the poverty level (the majority) cannot.

5. Keep fees are especially unfair for the 40% or more inmates in jail awaiting trial and who haven’t yet been judged guilty of a crime. While they may be technically entitled to a refund, the very fact that they are jailed and wearing orange represents an unjust presumption of guilt.

The Albemarle Regional Jail is slated to address this issue in their March meeting, and is expected to abolish their fee. We should do the same.