County Raises Booking Fee Issue Again
Several months after it was eliminated by the state of Indiana, Porter County officials have come up with a plan to reintroduce a jail booking fee that has funded a successful drug and alcohol program for inmates. As reported by the NWTimes.
The proposal calls for again charging the $25 fee of everyone booked at the county jail, but returning the money to anyone found not guilty or whose charges are dismissed, County Attorney Gwenn Rinkenberger said … The state did away with the booking fee last summer on the grounds it was not fair, Porter County Commissioner Bob Harper said when the issue surfaced during a meeting in December … Rinkenberger said she disagrees with the state’s ability to eliminate the former version of the fee. She believes the county was within its rights to collect a fee to cover the cost of booking anyone at the jail, despite the outcome of cases.
The move left the county with a diminishing amount of money for the intensive outpatient treatment program provided for inmates by Porter-Starke Services … Until the revamped fee can be approved, the commissioners will dedicate $30,000 to $40,000 of county income tax revenue to keep the inmate treatment program alive, Harper said. The treatment program costs the county $120,000 a year, Porter County Sheriff David Lain said.
Booking Fees, Drug Treatment & Diversion, IN Porter County, Indiana, Inmate Programs