Inmate Visits Now Carry Added Cost in Arizona

I am not sure about this. That seems like a pretty high 'background fee' to me. How often is this background check completed? At what age does the fee apply to children? What about families that already have the expense of coming from out of town? Exactly what is the background check looking for? But, the most important question is, who owns the company that will be responsible for supplying the service? Which member of Congress is going to benefit the most from this new source of revenue? Just a thought.....

For the Arizona Department of Corrections, crime has finally started to pay.

New legislation allows the department to impose a $25 fee on adults who wish to visit inmates at any of the 15 prison complexes that house state prisoners. The one-time “background check fee” for visitors, believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, has angered prisoner advocacy groups and family members of inmates, who in many cases already shoulder the expense of traveling long distances to the remote areas where many prisons are located.

David C. Fathi, director of the National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, called the fee “mind-boggling” and said that while it was ostensibly intended to help the state — the money will be used to repair and maintain the prisons — it could ultimately have a negative effect on public safety.

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