Pamela Reed of Sacramento, whose son is in prison, weighs in on the proposal to raise the amount taken from prisoner accounts to 55 percent.
Sacramento Bee/Brian Baer 
Taking account
State wants more of inmates' cash
By M.S. Enkoji -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 a.m. PST Wednesday, January 15, 2003
In the good months, Patricia Huerta can send $100 to her son, who is serving time in a state prison in Vacaville. But not every month is good.
He must use the money to pay for soap, toothpaste, stamps, shaving cream -- food. And Huerta hopes he will buy reading material, anything to keep the 27-year-old busy, occupied and out of trouble while he's incarcerated for armed robbery.
"I don't want my child to lose hope," she said at a hearing Tuesday with state Department of Corrections representatives.
Whatever Huerta sends to her son, 22 percent is taken by the department for the Victims Compensation and Governmental Claims Board. The department wants to boost the amount deducted from inmates' accounts to 55 percent by June 2004.
That means the $100 that the 52-year-old Huerta sends from her disability check and whatever she can borrow from other family members will shrink from $78 for her son, down to $45.
The hearing on the increase drew people like Huerta, relatives of inmates, who urged the department to reconsider more than doubling the amount deducted from an inmate's cash fund to pay fines imposed by courts.
The fines go into a state fund set up for victims of crime who don't have enough money for expenses such as counseling or lost wages. The fund collected $9 million in 2001 from inmate accounts.
The department does not collect for court-ordered restitution that would directly compensate a victim for a particular crime, such as the cost of stolen goods never recovered.
Of the 160,000 inmates in prison and prison camps, about 25 percent earn their own wages, which go into their accounts. But a lot of contributions to the accounts come from families, friends, churches and nonprofits.
"I've never committed a crime in my life," said Jackie Gray of Sacramento, who has a 26-year-old son at a prison camp. He is serving a six-year term for burglary.
Gray, 51, who has had polio and uses a wheelchair, said she also has a daughter to support. The increase will mean more money out of her pocket for her son, possibly forcing her daughter to go without, she said.
"Creating more victims isn't the solution," she said.
Since 1992, the $50 million collected from inmate accounts is only 15 percent of the fine amounts owed, said a department spokesman.
"We're not collecting the amount we're supposed to be collecting. That's why we're doing this," said Russ Heimerich, the spokesman.
The percentage deduction has not changed for nearly a decade, he said.
There are no provisions in the law to exclude money given by families or even unrelated sources, said Heimerich. Virtually all money in the account is subject to the deduction except for veteran benefits, which are excluded because of a federal law, said Heimerich.
The department is proposing to step up the deduction in increments, which could start as soon as the change is adopted, he said.
At least 96 percent of inmates have fines to pay off, which are a maximum of $10,000 each. At least 40 percent of the inmates have accounts that contribute to the victims' fund; others don't have the means to pay.
The state provides basic supplies like toothpaste and soap only to inmates who have no money in their accounts, which means families have to send enough for those essentials in order to provide for extras like ice cream or vitamins.
A nonprofit organization will have to nearly double its budget to provide the same level of support, said Judy Greenspan of California Prison Focus.
Greenspan said her group sends several hundred dollars a month to inmates infected with HIV for extra food and other necessities to manage their illness.
"It's really going to affect our ability to do that," she said of the increase.
The Bee's M.S. Enkoji can be reached at (916) 321-1106 or menkoji@sacbee.com.
Corrections Department officials Mike Smail, left, and Rick Grenz hear testimony Tuesday during a public hearing on proposed changes to inmate accounts.
Sacramento Bee/Brian Baer
Robert Brooks of Fullerton, who has a brother in prison in San Diego, speaks Tuesday about the proposal to take a larger share of inmates' cash funds. Families, churches and nonprofits often contribute to such accounts.
Sacramento Bee/Brian Baer
