Advocates sue Black Hawk County, say jail inmate fees were spent for ice cream, cotton candy

Black Hawk County collects hundreds of thousands of dollars per year from jail inmates to pay for their room and board. But in a new lawsuit, the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa says that's not where the money is going.

In fact, according to the complaint filed Monday, the sheriff's office has used money from inmates' jail fees on a variety of perks, including a "wellness app" and a gun range, outfitted with laser tag equipment and cotton candy and ice cream machines, that is usable only by its employees and their families.

And, according to the ACLU, the sheriff is bypassing the process laid out by statute to collect those fees, instead having prisoners sign paperwork waiving their rights to contest the amount of their reimbursement or payment plan for it. As a result, they say, Black Hawk County brings in more than double what peer counties receive from jail fees, of which the sheriff's office takes 40% to spend as it sees fit.

On one occasion, when county leaders sought to exercise greater oversight over the funds, the ACLU says, Sheriff Tony Thompson simply stopped collecting the fees until the county backed down.

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"By evading judicial review and refusing to collect jail fees when control of the fund was wrested from it, the Department as made its aim clear: use any means necessary to avoid scrutiny of a program that is used to enrich the Department and its employees," the complaint says.

Attorneys for the ACLU and the Debtors Prison Project at Public Justice, who are working together on the case, said during a conference call with reporters Monday that if counties choose to assess jail fees, as permitted by state law, the fees should be spent on the jail services they are ostensibly meant to pay for.

"The fact that the money is not even actually being used to pay for room or board or other jail costs that it's being assessed for only makes this more outrageous," ACLU Legal Director Rita Bettis Austen said. "It's profoundly unfair and wrong."

The lawsuit is drafted as a class-action on behalf of potentially thousands of former detainees who have signed paperwork assenting to jail fees. The county has not yet responded in court. Thompson defended his office's collection efforts and use of the resulting funds in a statement Monday, which said it would seem "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."

Which Iowa counties collect jail fees for room, board, medical care?

Under state law, sheriff's offices can bill detainees who have been convicted or sentenced for their room and board and any medical care received. Attorney Charles Moore of Public Justice estimated Monday that about two-thirds of Iowa counties do so, although their charged rates and collection practices vary wildly.

Black Hawk County charges fees of $70 per day, plus a $25 booking fee. According to the complaint, from July 2021 to July 2023, the county brought in nearly $600,000. Scott County brought in about a quarter that amount over the same two years, and Dallas County less than half. All three counties have populations between 100,000 and 175,000, with Black Hawk County in the middle with about 130,000.

Polk and Johnson counties do not bill inmates for room and board, although Polk County does for some medical expenses, according to the complaint. Linn County also has discontinued assessing jail fees, it said.

Who gets to use the money collected from jail fees?

Although ostensibly charging for room and board, counties are not required to apply the fees they collect toward jail operations. Under state law, they must spend 60% on law enforcement uses, such as courthouse security or jail infrastructure costs. The law is silent as to the other 40%.

In Black Hawk County, according to the complaint, the sheriff's office maintains full control over the remainder, which is placed in a "40% fund." Under Thompson, the office has used that money to build and outfit its gun range facility in Raymond, including, allegedly, with laser tag equipment, among other accoutrements.

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In 2019, according to the lawsuit, Black Hawk County supervisors raised concerns about some of the expenses paid for out of the 40% fund, and in 2022 passed a resolution to direct the money to the county general fund instead. In response, the complaint says, Thompson directed his office to stop collecting jail fees entirely, relenting only after supervisors agreed several months later to return control of the undesignated 40% to the sheriff's office.

The lawsuit alleges this shows an unlawful conflict of interest by the sheriff's office, as the sheriff is able to set fee rates, decide how to pursue the costs, and then spend a large share of the resulting proceeds on "superfluous expenses" for the sheriff's office and its employees.

Detainees waive rights with confessions of judgment

The lawsuit also accuses the sheriff of pursuing unlawful means to collect those debts.

The suit alleges that detainees, including lead plaintiff Leticia Roberts, are given paperwork when they are discharged that includes a so-called "confession of judgment," agreeing to pay their fees and authorizing the county to seek court-ordered garnishment if they do not. Roberts, who was billed for more than $700 after two arrests for drunken driving in 2022, says she was told she needed to sign the documents to have her belongings returned.

Although the form Roberts signed doesn't explain it, a confession of judgment is a legal filing waiving all rights to contest a debt collection action in court, including claims the amount is incorrect or that the signer is unable to pay. It also includes giving up the right to be notified when the creditor files the confession with the court, where a clerk approves the order without any judicial review.

Confessions of judgment are a controversial legal tool that are outlawed or restricted in many states. Several recent lawsuits from student loan borrowers allege that Iowa's pre-Civil-War statute lacks critical due process safeguards and is unconstitutional as applied to consumers.

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Monday's lawsuit alleges Black Hawk County is using confessions of judgment instead of the collection process laid out in the jail fee statute to avoid any judicial oversight over debts that may be unenforceable.

"It's being used in our circumstance for folks who are in the jail. Literally it's the last thing they do before they walk out the jail's doors before they get their freedom back," Moore said. "It's a hugely problematic practice, and I think that our lawsuit just really underscores how abusive these practices can be."

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Thompson, in an emailed statement, confirmed his office charges detainees $70 per day for room, board and utilities. Inmates have the "option" of signing a confession of judgment upon release from jail, he said, but they are not required to do so or to enter into payment plans.

While the ACLU alleges the sheriff's Raymond Range shooting facility is solely for the use of law enforcement and their families, Thompson told the Des Moines Register his office also hosts community days there for the public. In his statement, he defended spending jail fees "promoting days where officers can spend time with their families and the community, dispelling myths about the office, ensuring better education of the public, and better informing their families of how to maintain their own safety."

Those events, Thompson said, create dialogue and strengthen relationships between law enforcement and the general public.

"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," Thompson said.

Advocates raise concerns about jail fees in general

Monday's lawsuit does not challenge the jail fee statute entirely, Moore said in the conference call, but only those counties, like Black Hawk, that are circumventing the legal collection process through confessions of judgment.

"The sheriff is able to sort of operate in the shadows without subjecting this scheme to any review by the courts," he said.

But while the statute as written is not the target of this case, ACLU officials said they have deep concerns about any county that adopts a "pay to stay" model for its jails.

"These debts are significant collateral consequences for people that can hold them back in their ability to succeed after serving a sentence," Austen said.

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com or 715-573-8166.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa ACLU accuses Black Hawk County of using jail fees to pay for perks