By Jordan Steffen
Denver Post
DENVER, Colo. — Denver metro-area sheriff’s departments have collected millions of dollars in booking fees from inmates, and the departments often run an ongoing tab for those who can’t afford to pay when they’re arrested. The tabs have left some people owing hundreds of dollars that may eventually be confiscated if they return to jail.
Legal experts say the practice may be a violation of state law — a legal conclusion that Denver’s city attorney also reached last year before the sheriff’s department discontinued collecting old debts for booking fees.
Now, after being contacted by The Denver Post, a number of other departments are also reconsidering whether they have the authority to charge people for previous jail bookings.
Advocates warn that tracking and collecting unpaid fees from people repeatedly booked into jail may unfairly target the mentally ill and homeless.
“A key purpose of this fee was to benefit mentally ill and indigent inmates, and I was concerned that — in practice — it could be disproportionately impacting these very populations,” said Denver’s independent police monitor, Nicholas Mitchell.
In 2004, legislators passed a law allowing sheriff’s departments to collect up to $30 from everyone booked into a county jail. The law requires that the fee be collected when someone is booked into the jail, but it does not allow deputies to collect unpaid fees if someone is booked into the jail multiple times, according to a review by the Denver city attorney’s office and the Office of the Independent Monitor.
Full story: Jail inmate booking fees raise concern, may violate Colorado law