By Erin Alberty
The Salt Lake Tribune
DAVIS COUNTY, Utah — A judge has ordered the Davis County jail to stop taking money from inmates’ personal accounts to cover lodging and medical expenses.
The practice, known as Pay For Stay, began with a 2007 state law enabling counties to collect payments from inmates to transfer jail costs away from taxpayers.
But in an order filed Wednesday, 2nd District Judge Michael G. Allphin wrote that the payments are a form of restitution, which requires authorization from the courts.
The issue was raised about a year ago by public defender Todd Utzinger after inmates began to complain that their personal accounts — typically used for food and items from the jail commissary — were being emptied in what became known in the jail as “account sweeps.”
Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings offered another name for the practice: “illegal, unconstitutional accounting enemas.”
Full story: Judge tells Davis County jail to keep its hands off inmates’ money