AUGUSTA (AP) – A proposal to require Kennebec County Jail inmates to pay fees of up to $250 to defray part of the cost of their incarceration will be considered Tuesday by county commissioners.

District Attorney Evert Fowle endorsed the boarding fee concept, which has been tried out in several other states.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Fowle said. “If they are made to pay, there’s a certain amount of poetic justice and might make them less likely to want to come back to jail.”

Fowle said he spoke with one District Court judge who said he would be willing to consider imposing the fee on a case-by case basis.

Commissioners have been trying to reduce jail operating costs, which make up about $4 million of the $9 million county budget funded by taxpayers. The commissioners already raised rates for inmates boarded in Augusta by other counties.

Jails in Michigan, Iowa, Ohio, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Minnesota and Missouri impose boarding fees on inmates.

“It is a very quickly growing trend,” said Stephen Ingley, executive director of the American Jail Association, based in Hagerstown, Md. “County jails are at the bottom of the funding totem pole.”

He said tough economic conditions are forcing county officials to find new ways to conduct business. However, the results are mixed. A county in Minnesota suspended fees after losing $6,000 over four months; Missouri collected $384,000, almost half of that from one inmate. Cincinnati refunded its boarding fees to inmates.

Earlier this year, the Kennebec County commissioners dismissed the idea of a booking fee on suspects at the time of their arrest.

While commissioners set policy, “the judges have statutory authority to impose boarding fees on inmates,” said Robert Devlin, county administrator. “There are people who come into our jail who are quite able to afford to pay for their board,” he said.

AP-ES-05-29-04 1229EDT