$8 for a jail call? Ramsey County debates reducing criminal fines and fees

By TAD VEZNER  |  Pioneer Press | October 22, 2019

Ramsey County commissioners on Tuesday debated how to lessen fines and fees from their jail and criminal court system — a system that netted $12.8 million last year.And — to a much lesser extent — how to recoup the revenue drop.There was a big caveat hanging over the discussion, which took place at a county workshop Tuesday: The majority of those fines and fees are mandated by the state, and go back to the state — and there’s nothing the county can do about it.But still, according to PFM, the grant-paid firm partnering with the county to study the issue, a good portion of those fees — $2.9 million — are authorized by the county. And paid either to the county, or to their contracted vendors for things like phone calls and jail candy.

County commissioners appeared unified in their desire to reduce the fees, with board chair Jim McDonough calling the effort necessary to uphold the county’s “core values,” and board member Victoria Reinhardt saying such fees were being required of “truly a captive audience.”

As for how to recoup the lost revenue — with PFM’s options including the release of “lower risk” offenders from probation, and even raising property taxes — McDonough said he didn’t want to focus on that during the workshop.

Instead, he said he wanted to gauge how committed the board was to enforcing its “core values,” before getting into the nitty-gritty of dealing with the inevitable revenue gap.

LEGAL FEES ADD UP

Most of the fines and fees are related to the Ramsey County court system — which to date still has $64 million in outstanding debt needing to be paid by those who’ve put in appearances. That includes fines, which are ordered by a judge as a criminal penalty, and fees, for services the county supplies.

But those criminal fines often have a minimum mandated by the state. As does their biggest money-maker: a $75 fee for each and every conviction, all of which goes to the state.

But the county is responsible for some fees: a $16 fee, per day, to get on work release; a $20 post-trial jail admission fee; a $10 court-imposed fine for every conviction to support the county law library.

In recent years, Ramsey County has curbed some of those fees. They got rid of a $25 pre-trial booking fee years ago; they cut the fee for probation supervision in half — from $300 to $150 — in many cases.

And next year’s proposed budget includes getting rid of the work-release charge, the jailing fee and the charge for chemical health assessments ($125).

But much of Tuesday’s debate centered around the county’s vendors: the ones that charge $6 to deposit money into an inmate’s commissary fund, or $7 to $8 for a 15-minute phone call. Even more for a video call.

While such charges racked up only $334,000 of the $12.8 million total last year, commissioners noted that taxing family contact for inmates was the last thing they wanted to do. Rehabilitation and isolation rarely mix.

“It feels like a 1985 long-distance phone call,” County Manager Ryan O’Connor said.

“How much would it cost us to have 10 cellphones down there?” asked board chair McDonough, adding that in the case of those who have yet to be convicted, “It feels like we’re already punishing them.”

“We have workshops every week. … We invest tens of millions of dollars in keeping families together,” said Commissioner Rafael Ortega, adding that the county covering or reducing such fees would be little different.

So should the county pay for the vendor services themselves, as PFM offered as one option? No consensus.

PFM’s other suggestions for saving money included consolidating the state and county law libraries, and renegotiating with Dakota County for housing their female inmates.

REVIEW FOLLOWS FERGUSON INVESTIGATION

Debate over criminal fines and fees started nationwide following a federal investigation into how the city of Ferguson, Mo., used its criminal justice system to raise revenue — from its poorest citizens in particular — rather than focus on public safety. The 2015 investigation came in the wake of the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown, which sparked nationwide protests.

“The City (of Ferguson) budgets for sizeable increases in municipal fines and fees each year, exhorts police and court staff to deliver those revenue increases, and closely monitors whether those increases are achieved,” the U.S. Department of Justice report read, citing as one of many examples: “One charge, Making a False Declaration, was for initially providing the short form of his first name (e.g., ‘Mike’ instead of ‘Michael’).”

Following the report and subsequent media coverage, municipalities across the nation took a look at their own fee structures.

PFM’s contract — paid for with a $1.2 million grant by Houston-based Arnold Ventures, a philanthropic group founded by former hedge fund billionaire John Arnold and his wife, Laura — covers work with three counties wanting to reduce the use of fines and fees to fund criminal justice operations. The other counties are in Tennessee and Texas.