County Increases Pay-For Stay Rate
Northumberland County PA Prison inmates will pay more to live in a cell than most city apartment dwellers because of a 50 percent increase in the daily boarding fee, according to the Daily Item.
The prison board has approved Warden Roy Johnson’s recommendation to increase inmate boarding fees from $10 a day to $15 a day. Johnson said the county’s recent financial struggles to narrow a projected $1 million deficit this year prompted him to look at ways to save money. “I’m trying to do my part in helping so the prison is not a burden on taxpayers,” he said. “I can’t always save dollars, but if I can save a dime, I will.” In supporting the boarding fee hike, District Attorney Anthony Rosini said the county’s actual daily cost to house one inmate is more than $55.
A recent edition of The Daily Item included advertisements for 12 apartments in Sunbury and just one of them had monthly rent of more than $450.
Johnson said any little bit the county can collect will be worth the effort. The prison collects well below 20 percent of the owed fees from sentenced inmates after their release. Work-release inmates have the boarding fee automatically deducted from their paychecks, but less than 10 percent of the 200 or so prisoners are participating in the program. “Most inmates simply ignore the boarding fee once they’re released,” Johnson said. After 90 days, the bill is turned over to Central Credit Audit, a Sunbury collection agency, but Johnson said the company hasn’t been successful … “I haven’t seen any checks coming in,” Johnson said, before correcting himself and adding that a former female inmate has been sending $5 each month.
The prison board also unanimously agreed to charge inmates a $1.50 transaction fee for each check they give the jail for commissary items. Johnson said the prison handles an average 5,700 check or money-order transactions every year and the fee will offset some costs. “It won’t be a revenue generator,” the warden said.
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