Kane County increases weekend jail fee for richest inmates

Kane County jail inmates who can most afford the luxury of serving time only on weekends will now pay up to nearly seven times more for their accommodations.

Currently, judges have the latitude to sentence inmates guilty of certain nonviolent crimes to serve their jail time only on the weekends if they have a job and a family to support. In trade, those weekend inmates pay a flat fee of $15 for each day they are at the jail. That fee doesn't cover the costs for the food, clothing, shelter and security the county provides.

To address that, Chief Judge F. Keith Brown pitched a sliding scale system that raises the fee. The poorest weekend inmates (those with three or more dependents and a household income of $29,000 or less) would pay $20 per day. Meanwhile the relatively wealthy inmates (those with no dependents and a household income of $71,501 or more) would pay $100 per day. The scale is meant to be a guideline for judges during sentencing, but leaves room for a judge's individual discretion.

Even with that, the plan met with multiple concerns by Kane County Board members Tuesday.

"Who says the drug dealer is completely upfront with the IRS?" said county board member Bill Wyatt in pitching a plan to just charge everyone $40 per day regardless of income level.

Wyatt's plan was defeated, but did raise the question about how to determine household income.

"From a privacy standpoint, if you go to jail, do you have to bring your tax return,?" asked county board member John Hoscheit. "Why does our corrections department have to know what people make for a living?"

Public Defender Dave Kliment told Hoscheit that information is shared with a judge, not the jail, and is typically part of determining a defendant's ability to pay legal costs.

That still didn't satisfy all concerns. Board member Bonnie Kunkel argued that $100 was too high for anyone to reasonably pay to be in jail. She suggested $60 was the more appropriate cap for the fees. Her idea also failed.

The majority of the county board ultimately voted in favor sticking with the sliding scale Brown suggested.