LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky Supreme Court justices are reviewing a lawsuit involving the commonwealth’s jailers charging inmates fees for their time behind bars.
For more than 20 years, Kentucky jailers have taken money for booking fees and per-day fees. The jails often keep the money even if someone is found not guilty or the charges are dropped.
The case in front of the court centers on the 2013 arrest of David Jones in Clark County, near Lexington. Attorney Greg Belzley said Jones spent 14 months in the Clark County Jail because he couldn’t afford to pay his bail. While he was locked up, he paid the jail more than $250 in fees, and he was billed an extra $4,000.
The charges against Jones were dismissed, and Belzley argued his client should get the money back.
In all previous cases, lower courts have upheld the jail fee law. So the lawsuit has slowly made its way to the Kentucky Supreme Court. On Wednesday, both sides presented their oral arguments.
Photo courtesy KET.
“We do not challenge the right of a jail to deduct monies from an inmate’s account while they are in the jail,” Belzley said. “But absent a plea of guilt or a finding of guilt by a jury, that money has to be returned.”
Belzley said the practice of jailers collecting fees goes directly against the intent of the law passed in 2000 meant to let a judge decide — once a case ended — if a person could afford to pay jail fees and how much is owed. And he argued that it is unconstitutional for jailers to keep that money if a person is not convicted.
Jeff Mundo represents the Clark County jailer, and he said arguments about the language in the bill and its constitutionality have already been debated by other Kentucky judges and rejected. He argued that gives jailers the authority to take these fees as reimbursement for inmate expenses.
"I understand and acknowledge the inequities that the court is confronted with,” Mundo said. “I understand the plight Mr. Jones is undergoing. But it's inherently and equally unfair to place that blame on the Clark County Jail.”
Mundo said his client made the decision not to pursue collecting Jones’ unpaid $4,000 bill. He added that there is no law that requires the jail to reimburse those fees, whether a person is eventually found not guilty or charges are dropped.
The justices will now review the case and eventually issue an opinion.
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