Ruling may cost county jail $70,000

A U.S. District Court decision in Spokane regarding booking fees paid by inmates could cost the Snohomish County Jail about $70,000 a year in revenue.

The Aug. 29 order said the Spokane County Jail should have held hearings before taking money that inmates had in their possession when they were booked.

The Snohomish County Jail, like the Spokane jail, is one of several jails that have taken advantage of a state law allowing them to seize money from inmates to help cover the cost of booking them.

The law allows jails to take up to $100 from inmates as they come through the door, though the Snohomish County Jail takes only $10, according to a jail spokesman.

By state law, the money is returned if the inmate is exonerated.

U.S. District Judge Fred Van Sickle ruled that the law is unconstitutional.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of all Spokane County Jail inmates who had money taken from them when they were booked, alleges that the inmates' civil rights were violated when the jail seized their cash without hearings, according to a complaint filed in 2005.

Van Sickle agreed, ruling in a summary judgment that the seizures without hearings denied the inmates' constitutional right to due process.

Snohomish County Jail spokesman Jim Harms said it's too early to tell what that means for the jail here. County prosecutors, who have been watching the case for months, are reviewing the decision.

"It's very, very early in this process," Harms said.

The Snohomish County Jail takes the $10 fee if a person has cash on them when they come in, Harms said. If the person doesn't have money on them, the jail takes the fee when friends or relatives make a deposit for the inmate into a jail debit account used for buying things in the jail, he said.

The jail doesn't actively try to collect the money if a person doesn't have cash at the time of arrest and they don't have money in a debit account.

Brian Alexander: 425-745-7845 or balexander@seattletimes.com