Inmates Challenge Cash Seizure Law Allows State To Take Portion Of Gifts To Pay Prison Expenses

The state has seized $1 million in gifts sent to inmates under a 1995 law that requires prisoners who work or receive outside money to pay part of the operating expenses of the prison system.

But the money is being held in reserve while inmates challenge the seizure in court. The outcry from inmates and families also has prompted some lawmakers to take a second look at the law.

“I find it very unjust, very unconstitutional,” said Roxy Minear, 43, who’s serving time at the women’s prison at Purdy for cocaine dealing. Her mother sends $10 or $20 when she can.

“I come from a very poor family. My mother, she can’t afford to do this,” Minear told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in a report published Monday. “To have these guys take the money she sends to me, that’s like a double tax.”

It’s a complaint that seemingly would generate little sympathy at a time when the public is demanding get-tough measures for criminals.

However, state Rep. John Koster believes the law, which requires the state to seize 35 percent of monetary gifts sent to inmates, punishes families and raises issues of double taxation.

“I had a couple of families of inmates that came in,” the Monroe Republican said. “It’s kind of an issue of fairness.”

Koster’s bill was approved by the House but rejected last week by a Senate committee. Inmates and their relatives now are hoping to overturn the seizure statute through a class-action lawsuit in federal court that was brought by more than 300 prisoners.

Under the seizure law, the state keeps 20 percent for prison operating costs, 5 percent for the state’s crime victims compensation fund and 10 percent that goes into savings accounts that inmates get back when they are released.

Between last May, when the deductions began, and February, the state collected $627,506 for operating costs, $313,753 for the savings accounts and $156,398 for the victims fund.

The deduction represents a tiny fraction of the $750 million annual operating budget of the Department of Corrections. The average per-day cost of housing an inmate is about $64.

Some other states collect fees from prisoners, but the methods vary, said Tom Rolfs, director of the state’s division of prisons.

Most of the changes have been grudgingly accepted by inmates, such as requirements that they pay fees for health care and exercise time. But the seizure of 35 percent of all the money sent to them by family members or other outsiders has been met with growing resentment.

Inmates use their money at prison stores, buying items such as soap for 30 cents to a $1.34, depending on the brand, and toothbrushes ranging in cost from 4 cents to 77 cents. Snacks and a few pharmacy products also are available, along with higher cost luxury items such as color TVs for $229 and cassette-radio players for about $64.

Weight lifting and music programs, once free, now cost $5 per quarter, and each visit to the doctor carries a $3 co-pay fee.

Koster’s bill, HB1934, would have eliminated the 20 percent deduction for operating costs for any gifts of less than $100 a month. The deductions for the savings and victim funds would have remained.

Gifts of more than $100 a month still would have been reduced by 35 percent.

His proposal to modify the deduction was backed by Rep. Ida Ballasiotes, a tough anti-crime legislator who sponsored the 1995 legislation, and approved by the House in an 81-14 vote last month. But the head of the Senate Human Services and Corrections Committee declined to consider the measure, saying there weren’t enough votes to bother.

“The consensus of the committee was that we don’t want to alter this,” said Sen. Jeanine Long, a Mill Creek Republican.