Ed Kuharski writes to County Supervisors about jail profiteering
7/19/07
Dear Supervisors,
I am writing today to urge support for Ashok Kumar's proposed
Ordinance to prohibit any future contracts for jail inmate services
that extract revenue for the County from inmates and their families.
I am a lifelong County resident who finds the current exploitive
profiteering to be a particularly shameful practice, and I welcome
another effort to end it as soon as possible.
As individuals, I am sure that none of you would consider exploiting
another's misfortunes to be a mark of moral integrity. When the
minister delivers your eulogy, do you want him/her to extol your
accomplishments in shaking down the poor & vulnerable so we more
fortunate ones could live more comfortably?
When you run for reelection, do you plan to point with pride to all
the children's lunch money, the struggling parent's rent money or
child support that you have successfully converted to a "significant
amount of revenue" for the County?
honor of being the #1 county in the #1 state for extreme racial
disparities at every stage of the criminal justice system. So the
present practices in the County jail have a greatly disparate impact
on black & brown people. Isn't it great to be #1? Surely we'd
be
contenders if Money Magazine did a "Best Counties to be White In"
feature!
Let's do the math: At a population of 465,000, the $1.9 million in
predatory revenue amounts to $4.20 per capita, or a cool $9.95 per
household. I'll be dropping off our 10 bucks at tonight's Board
meeting.
Actually, it is probably revenue positive to abolish this poverty tax.
The collateral damage caused to the families who typically pay the
exploitive fees most likely costs the County more in human services
than the County gets from its 57% cut of the profits. So its really a
win-win to do the right thing!
Respectfully,
Edward Kuharski
608/255-5816 (h)