Posts Tagged ‘prison’

Pay To Stay” Ohio Prison Program A Miserable Failure

August 20th, 2010

In the counties of Butler and Hamilton, Ohio, the sheriff’s departments attempted to collect money from inmates to pay for the cost of their stay at jail. An all around failure, the program stopped a few weeks ago after it cost taxpayers $69,000 to settle a federal lawsuit. The state auditor halted the program because it wasn’t generating any income.

Despite this fact, these counties are currently talking about re-starting the program through collecting booking fees. Financial analysts remain skeptical. Even in the best case scenarios, the policy may not be lucrative at all as many prisoners that end up in jail have no money.

Lawsuits were the issue that stopped the program in the first place. An Ohio prison nearby originally began charging booking fees at a hundred dollars and an additional $67.77 daily charge for every day held. But federal lawsuits against Hamilton and Butler counties started the end to “pay to stay” programs. The major issue at hand was determining who had to pay the fee.

Ohio law permits a county to charge prisoners for room and board, medical and dental treatment, property damage and a onetime booking fee. Inmates should be billed at the end of their stay, but the key provision of the law is that only convicted inmates could be charged. The District Judge stated that it was unconstitutional to take these fines from inmates who weren’t convicted yet.

Hamilton County was sued in 2000 and was told to refund about one million dollars in prison fees and to pay $150,000 for an educational program for prisoners. In 2001, Butler County was sued as well. By 2003, the grand total of money that was returned to settle litigation was $63,846 to 2,431 inmates. In addition, the county was ordered to pay a $5,000 donation to the Legal aid Society after officials did not add the agreed upon ten percent interest on refund checks.

Although the plan to charge pay to stay fees to prisoners has failed, and has cost taxpayers more money than the program is worth, the Sheriff’s department still looks to extract more money from the jail. Charging booking fees, and taking in out of state prisoners are current considerations.

Mallory Megan works for Rapid Recovery Solution, a medical debt collection agency. Having trouble collecting money from small claims? collection agencies can help.


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Man Caught With Drugs In His Football Boots

August 1st, 2010

Cumbria Police stopped and searched Stephen McRoy after a local resident tipped them off that he had been acting suspiciously in the area, they found a pair of football boots in his bag, which is not unusual for a young man, but inside them was a hoard of class A drugs including heroin, cannabis and ecstasy.

He was quickly arrested and charged him with possessing drugs with intent to supply, to which he pleaded guilty. The court was told how he was spotted loitering near Haverigg prison last year when the authorities were notified.

McRoy was found standing on a pavement and told police he was waiting for a friend, at which point he was attempting to contact someone on his mobile phone. Suspicious, the officers searched a drawstring bag he was carrying; inside the boots were a variety of small plastic packets containing the drugs.

The court heard how McRoy had intended to deliver the drugs to the prison, they had a street value of over 2000 but inside prison they would be worth more than five times that. Drugs are often thrown over the fences of prisons and sold inside for huge prices. McRoy had been offered 300 to deliver them to the prison.

He accepted the charges of possession but Martin Pizzey, defending, said that he had no involvement in the preparation of the bag he was delivering. He was a stranger to Cumbria and had never visited there before; he also knew nothing of the people he was there to meet and was only told he would be giving the bag to someone in a silver Volkswagen Golf.

He had travelled to Cumbria with friends and even paid for petrol, his role was that of a delivery man and failure to deliver the package would have resulted in severe recriminations. The court heard how McRoy was an easy target as he was attempting to clear his debts and buy his girlfriend a present, “he has been foolish and used,” said Pizzey.

Despite his minor role, Judge Pamela told the defendant “I don’t accept that you didn’t appreciate where the drugs would end up.” He has been sentenced to 3 years 10 months in jail.

After this encounter, Cumbria police are likely to be suspicious of anyone wearing Nike football boots and an Arsenal football shirt.


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The Cost Of Calls From Jail- Unaffordable To Nearly Everyone

July 10th, 2010

Undoubtedly, people who have gotten a sentence committed serious crimes and they are dangerous for all of us- the other people. After all, that is why they are isolated from the others, right? However, is just one mistake enough to make us treat the prisoners like they were no humans? You are wondering what I am talking about? Well, you will figure it out in a while…

I suppose that you can hardly believe it that the situation in jail is as bad as it is being described. Unfortunately, it is! There are really many examples which can be given for supporting the statement: one of them is the rate of costs for calls made from jail. Being allowed to communicate with your family is necessary, even if one is a criminal because it does not make him “non-human”. Obviously, this is only some people’s theory since the US correct institutions seem to have different opinion.

USA is the most democratic countries in the world probably but it seems that when it comes to prisoners things change a little bit. But these words are not worth a dime unless you are given some examples so that you can figure it out that there are severe restrictions for the people in US jails, especially when the phone calls are concerned.

Have you ever been told that it is nearly possible for a prisoner to make a call from jail due to the severe restrictions of the US correct institutions? No, you haven’t? You’ve got to be kidding, right? If you have not noticed, this is irony! Actually, very few people know that making a call from prison is hardly possible due to the extremely high rates of costs. The truth is that a phone call from jail could be made only if any of the inmate’s relatives have paid in advance (the so called pre-payment). I bet that it doesn’t feel good your contacts with the world to depend upon somebody else’s will. Wouldn’t you agree?

But having started talking about the calls from jail, we also need to mention another fact. Did you know that even if a prisoner has been phoned (which is free, at least for now), there is a limit of the phone call’s duration. It varies from state to state but it is usually around 20 minutes. So, both parties can hear a woman saying how much time they have left: they get this “informative message” 120, 60 and 30 seconds before the 20 minutes are over! And how high do you think that a phone call from jail costs? We also need to point out that the rate may vary from state to state or even prison to prison. But averagely, it costs $3.50 to make a call from jail to a phone number in the same state (it is a flat fee), $5.00 to make a call from jail to a phone number located in another state (it is an initial fee) plus $0.90 per minute! It sounds pretty “cheap”, especially for a prisoner, right?

To learn more about making low cost inmate phone calls and inmate telephone service, visit our guide at Inmate-Telephone-Service.com.


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Inmate Jail Locator – Bureau Of Prisons

June 18th, 2010

The reasons why people need to get access to inmate jail records vary. Maybe you’re interested in knowing if a friend of yours is currently being locked up in prison, or you’re interested in covering a story. No matter what your reasons is to find inmate jail records, here is good news. There are numerous ways on how to obtain the information.

BOP – Bureau Of Prisons You can start your search by checking out the Bureau of Prisons. The BOP has an official website that is open to the public. All information available in the site is free and their information is dated since 1982. When you visit their website, you can use their online inmate locator in finding inmates and in digging their record. Of course, you will be asked to provide the name of the person you are looking for. In addition a check list of names in their databases is offered for your convenience. To get accurate results fast it is recommended to fill out as much information as possible, such as name, race, age, sex, and date of birth. You might wonder which kind of reports you will get? Reports contain data on history of violence, date imprisoned, offense, and release date.

Internet Search Engine In case you do not get any results, you might use ca regular search engine such as Google or Yahoo. There are many websites aside from BOP that offer free online inmate jail search.

In fact the internet is full of resources which you can use and utilize. Usually, when you do an online search, the list of prisoners and inmates after hitting the search button is really long. The secret is entering as much personal information as possible. By entering date of birth, sex, race, and full name, you have a good chance that you will get the information your are looking for fast.

In case neither BOP nor any other free inmate jail search site worked for you, you can still take advantage of a paid inmate jail records provider. You will have to pay around $15 and will get accurate results within some minutes.

For The Best Websites Online To Conduct Inmate Jail Searches Visit Inmate Jail Search At http://www.inmatejailsearch.com/


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What Are The Standards For Determining DUI?

May 5th, 2010

At what point is a automobile operator deemed to be illegally intoxicated?

Though state intoxicated driving laws differ, you are deemed to be legally drunk with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .08% or higher. Alcohol consumption impacts every person differently, but a number of people could be deemed legally intoxicated after only having a couple of drinks. On average, a 185 lb man may very well be over the BAC legal cap after having 3 or 4 drinks, while a 125 lb woman could well be deemed legally drunk after only 2 or 3 beverages. For individuals who seldomly drink, even one drink might induce intoxication ultimately causing a DWI.

Of course, how rapidly the alcohol is drank, whether or not the person drank on an empty stomach, whether or not other drugs are being taken, how consistently the person drinks, and other elements drastically affect how the body metabolizes alcohol and therefore the blood-to-alcohol content ratio for that particular person.

What occurs when somebody is arrested for driving while intoxicated?

Being arrested for a DWI is a situation almost all of us try to avoid. In connection with getting arrested on charges of driving while intoxicated, you’ll probably be searched by the police, your vehicle will get towed and you’ll be transported to jail where you’ll be “booked.” You could possibly be set in a “drunk tank” with other alcohol or drug impaired arrestees. Despite being under the influence of alcohol, try to be as courteous and calm as attainable. You could be able to get out of jail within a few hours of your arrest, possibly by posting bail.

If not, then you can check with the court to discharge you at your first hearing. Contact legal counsel immediately or get a friend or family members assistance to do so. The law firm can direct you through the court procedure, as well as help you with any corresponding DMV hearings which may be required. You’ll not only be required to cope with the criminal penalties, but also with revocation of your driver’s license and maybe civil lawsuits if any individual was hurt as a result of your drunk driving.

A San Jose DWI lawyer can guide you through the court process, as well as help you with any associated hearings which may become necessary. Talk with a local California San Jose DWI lawyer near you today.


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