Published: May. 13, 2024 at 2:39 PM CDT
BLACK HAWK COUNTY, Iowa (KCRG) - On Monday, civil rights groups filed a lawsuit against Black Hawk County and Sheriff Tony Thompson. The ACLU of Iowa says the lawsuit is to block the department from “wrongly extracting money from people before being released from jail for room and board, and other fees.”
“The sheriff’s department has imposed a high cost that should never be charged in the first place,” said Charles Moore, staff attorney for Public Justice’s Debtors’ Prison Project. “And the sheriff’s program has been incredibly profitable, pocketing roughly $300,000 a year by collecting these fees.”
The lawsuit alleges that the sheriff’s office requires that people sign a “confession of judgment” before they leave jail and that they will pay $70 room and board per day as well as “administrative fees.” The ACLU of Iowa says that the money is then being spent on a multitude of non-jail-related expenses, including “a shooting range for the enjoyment of department employees and families, including rentals of ice cream and cotton candy machines and laser tag.”
“The fact that the money is not even actually used to pay for the room and board or other jail costs that it’s supposedly being assessed for only makes it more outrageous. It’s profoundly unfair and wrong. We’re asking the court to block the sheriff from doing this moving forward and to force him to make things right for people who have already paid on these debts in the past,” said Rita Bettis Austen, the ACLU of Iowa legal director.
The ACLU of Iowa says that all counties are required to give a person being released from jail an opportunity to appear in court when the county attempts to collect fees, but that Black Hawk County has bypassed that legal process.
“In Black Hawk County, the sheriff decides who owes money and how much they owe without any court ever reviewing those decisions. He acts as the judge, jury, and debt collector. It’s a classic conflict of interest,” Moore says.
Leticia Roberts is a plaintiff in the suit. She’s a single mom of three who lives on a fixed income. Two years ago, she was incarcerated.
Roberts says deputies handed her documents saying she had to pay $730 for her stay. Roberts says she signed the documents because she thought it was required for her release.
“A sheriff’s office is supposed to uphold the law, and not bend it. As a mom, it makes me upset because that money that’s money that could be going towards feeding my children, but instead it was put towards things such as cotton candy and ice cream machines for fun,” Roberts said.
The lawsuit was filed by Public Justice, the ACLU of Iowa, Fredrikson & Byron, PA, and Frerichs Law Office on behalf of Leticia Roberts, who was previously incarcerated at the jail.
In a statement, Sheriff Tony Thompson says the fees inmates are charged are in accordance with state law and that the $70 per day fee for room and board is appropriate.
Thompson’s office says the amount of money used from the funds for recreational purposes is minimal and are used for days where officers can spend time with their families and the community. Thompson’s office says these days are also used to educate the public no how to maintain their safety, and dispelling myths about the office.
“By including the public in some of these days, we also transparently demonstrate to our communities the tools and resources that we provide to them, we create dialogue and relationships and build commonality amongst neighbors and foundationally establish reliability in our agency without stigma, and without any drama,” Thompson’s office said.
In a statement, Thompson says inmates, rather than taxpayers should pay for their time in jail.
“It seems ironic that the ACLU would call this practice into question when these are the very actions and the law enforcement model that they have been demanding since George Floyd, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, and beyond. Further, it also seems disingenuous to have these very programs be paid for by the hard-working taxpayers when they are the ones who are already victimized by the offender. When they pay for their stay in jail, they are helping fund training for the law enforcement profession, families, and our communities by providing programming that destigmatizes the profession of law enforcement just a bit. We all recognize that better trained, healthier, emotionally sound officers are a benefit to all citizens, public and inmate alike,” Thompson said.
You can read more about the lawsuit here.
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