By Michael Walton
The Record-Eagle
TRAVERSE CITY — Grand Traverse County’s sheriff wants to hire a new employee to collect debts from inmates sentenced to serve time at the county jail.
But Sheriff Tom Bensley will need the go-ahead from county commissioners before he can hire someone to fill a $53,000-per-year collections specialist position. Commissioners will consider the sheriff’s request during a meeting Wednesday night at 6 p.m. at the Governmental Center.
Bensley said creating the new position makes sense — jail officials estimate revenue generated by collecting inmates’ outstanding debts will cover the position’s cost and more.
“This position will pay for itself ...,” Bensley said. “Plus it will make some money on top of paying for itself.”
But some local defense attorneys questioned the value of devoting any county resources to chasing debtors who often are struggle to get back on their feet after spending time in jail — people who already face a host of debts linked to court costs and probation fines.
“This process creates a never-ending cycle where people cannot and will not get ahead,” said Jesse Williams, a defense attorney based in Traverse City and Benzie County.
The county charges inmates sentenced to jail time a $20 housing fee for each day they spend incarcerated. Jail officials in 2012 implemented several policies aimed at collecting outstanding inmate housing debts, including taking a 25 percent cut from all inmate commissary deposits and in 2014 began pursuing legal action against inmates who refuse to pay.
Collections of housing fee debts totaled about $62,000 — 9 percent of total billings — in 2011, county records state. In 2014 that figure grew to about $126,000 — 17 percent of total billing.
In mid-2014 jail officials assigned a corrections officer to serve as a collections specialist responsible for determining which inmates to pursue collections cases against by looking at inmates’ ability to pay based on their financial well-being. The officer also tries to negotiate payment plans with current inmates, and prepares cases for attorneys in the county prosecutor’s office to pursue in civil court.
County attorneys first started filing collection lawsuits about this time last year. They’ve sued roughly 15 inmates per month since then, and about 90 percent of those cases result in default judgments, said jail Lt. Todd Ritter.
Those judgments and subsequent payment agreements generated an additional $9,700 in revenue for the sheriff’s department since the effort began. More than $304,000 in outstanding legal judgments still await payment plan negotiations.
Sheriff’s department officials want funding for the collections specialist in order to pursue further housing debts. Meanwhile the corrections officer currently assigned to the duties will be reassigned to work as a guard inside the jail, where staffing shortages and overtime are perpetual issues.
Ritter said there will be plenty more work for a collections specialist as more court cases are adjudicated and more payment plan deals need to be negotiated.
“The majority of this first year of this program has been developing this system,” Ritter said. “I think we have the system in place now, and now it’s really focusing on collecting the debt the system has given us the legal judgments for.”
Traverse City-based defense attorney Paul Jarboe questioned whether the inmates targeted by the lawsuits really have the financial means to pay their outstanding housing debts, let alone hire a lawyer to give them legal advice after they’ve been ordered to appear in civil court.
Collections lawsuit respondents are fresh out of jail. Many face mandatory drug and alcohol testing fees; and almost all face probation costs and court fines.
“You’re just making it worse on these people,” Jarboe said.