Our brilliant Legislature

Today I add more to my comments of June 12, 2008 under the headline: “Crime and Punishment.”

On June 28, 2008, the Deseret News ran an article by Ben Winslow under the headline: “Pay to Stay at the Purgatory Jail,” that gave us this “good” news: “The Washington County Sheriff's Office is implementing a "pay to stay" program at the Purgatory Jail effective July 15. The jail's new chief said it is designed to offset increasing inmate housing costs, as well as an experiment in reducing recidivism among criminals. “

Obviously there are three possible and inspired ideas under-pinning such a decision:

1) There is a misperception among our legislators that our inmates have $50/hour jobs waiting for them.

Why, with those jobs they will be able to pay off a 30-day incarceration in less than 30-hours. Now that sounds reasonable! Especially if we don’t consider the fines that our judges hit them with prior to sending them to jail or prison and without any regard for their ability to pay. But, wait, with that lucrative job waiting for them, and say a $1,000 fine to pay off – they are only adding another, what, 30-35 hours? They should have it all cleaned up in less than two weeks!

2) Perhaps our legislators believe that our criminals have somehow cached the illegal and ill-gotten gains of their pre-jail life and this is a brilliant new means to get it back.

3) Or maybe, our legislators understand all too well that our criminal element will be forced to return to their illegal behavior and this is a new method of taxing that behavior.

Again, quoting Winslow’s article:
"The $45 flat rate will cover all housing costs. Inmates will start being charged from the moment they're moved from booking to housing and end when they're released. [Washington County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Jake] Schultz said discounts will be offered at the Purgatory Jail for inmates who are discipline free (10 percent off), go through education programs (another 10 percent discount), and pay it in full when they're released (up to 50 percent off).

"If they got released and they want to pay in full, they took self-help and had been discipline free, they could potentially have a 70 percent cut," he said. "We're really hoping to promote the rehabilitation process."

Now that makes me feel better since those education programs are working so well already. I assume they are talking about the formal education programs and not the informal prisoner run programs that give young apprentices a journeyman education in fraud, drug chemistry, or financing criminal activities.

Again, from Winslow’s article regarding other jails looking at “pay for stay” fees:
"The Legislature passed this as a signal, as an indication of where they want us to go," said Box Elder County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Kevin Potter.

The Box Elder County Jail is expected to start charging its inmates as soon as they can settle on a price. (Update: They decided on a $45/day charge.)

"That's probably our biggest debate right now," said Potter …

And in what I think is one of the understatements of the year, Winslow notes: “One problem that jails worry about is actually collecting the money. Often, inmates are too poor to make bail and paying a hefty fine after being in jail from arrest to court and through sentencing could be outrageous.”

Lon's second rule of unintended consequences says, "The owners of a system that delivers unintended results or consequences will continue to add new and creative means to deliver those unintended results."

We, therefore, shouldn’t be too hard on the Purgatory Jail “chief” for believing this is an "experiment in reducing recidivism among criminals." How could he know the current system is circular, and is netting unintended results, delivering the same people to his jail over and over again? Oh, wait, he would only need to look at the paperwork or in the cells to see that something is truly wrong. D’oh!

To the legislature, I say, as our favorite stooge would say, “Another fine mess you’ve gotten us in!” Truly stellar! Let’s be sure and re-elect them all. I’m sure they are the smartest people in the state and we couldn’t do any better.