The old jail benefit of free “three hots and a cot” is no longer true in Elko County.
Starting this month the county jail is charging inmates $6.87 a day for food along with various other charges for medical care and incidentals.
“The charges are booking/process fee $5.00, Meals (3Meals) $6.84, routine sick call $5.00, each prescription $5.00, each Dental visit $5.00, each X-ray $5.00 each diagnostic test $5.00, and over the counter meds $5.00 each.” said Sheriff Jim Pitts. “I just got tired of waiting for the lawyers. We have inmates who always have full commissary accounts and my argument is if they can pay for candy or a cup of noodles they should be able to pay for the essentials. Of course we aren’t going to deny food to the indigent inmate but those who can pay should pay.”
On February 5, the County Commission approved a proposal from Pitts, who oversees the county jail, to charge inmates for meals. In 2012, Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez announced a plan to charge inmates small fees or co-payments for medical care, but this is the first time a similar policy has been introduced for food.
Pitts claims his plan will allow taxpayer money to be reallocated to fund education and other services in Elko County.
“If I collect $20 a day, that’s $20 less the taxpayer has to come up with,” Pitts said. “I could get up here and say, ‘I’m going to save the taxpayer $4 million a year.’ Realistically, your taxes won’t go down $4 million a year, but that money can be used in other places. I might be able to keep people out of my jail if we get them educated.”
Pitts said he has a $3 million annual budget for the small jail. The jail only has 120 beds, but it is often overpopulated. According to Jim’s calculations, one inmate’s three daily meals—a hot breakfast and two cold sandwiches—costs $6.87 total. On March 3, the jail began instituting the new policy, although inmates had already responded negatively to the proposal weeks before it was initiated. And they weren’t the only ones.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada has publicly condemned Pitts’ plan as a violation of constitutional rights.
“Food is one of the basic necessities of life,” said Staci Pratt, the legal director of Nevada’s ACLU. “It is considered cruel and unusual punishment to deny anyone access to food.”
Pitts said he doesn’t care about the ACLU’s opinion.
“It was their choice to commit a crime, and now they should pay for their meals while they’re serving their time,” Elko County Commissioner Grant Gerber said to the VICE network. “We’re looking out for the taxpayer. We’re not looking out for the criminal.”
“[The ACLU] is wrong,” Gerber added. “I’m an attorney; they’re wrong lots of times. They need to raise money, so they’re making complaints to get their name in the paper.”
Pitts also denied that his move to start charging inmates now was a campaign stunt for this years election.
“I have been working on this for three years,” he explained. “I finally just got tired of waiting and went to the commission.”
If they don’t like the food they can stay out of jail