County wipes clean $3.4M in inmate debt, County Council eliminated six jail fees in late August

Some of the region’s most vulnerable people and their families have had $3.4 million more to spend between them over the past two months because the St. Louis County Council listened to Lt. Col. Troy Doyle, interim director of the St. Louis County Department of Justice Services.

In July, Doyle advised that the county eliminate six jail fees, and the council passed an ordinance eliminating those fees in late August.

The county eliminated a $70 booking fee, $20 bond fee charged to someone who posts bond, a $2 fee charged each time an inmate is seen by a nurse, a $5 fee charged each time an inmate is seen by a dentist, a $5 fee for dispensing medication, and a $20 medical assessment fee charged each time an individual is incarcerated.

The fees were put in place by the St. Louis County Council in 2009.

http://www.stlamerican.com/news/local_news/county-wipes-clean-m-in-inmate-debt-county-council-eliminated/article_25c12b90-f031-11e9-adb1-4b45636c4f59.html