Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 3, 1990                   TAG: 9004030241
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: IOWA CITY, IOWA                                LENGTH: Medium

JUDGES TO CRIMINALS: DO THE TIME, PAY YOUR WAY

From Jan. 19, 1989, through the end of October, federal judges ordered 254 defendants to pay a monthly fee during their prison sentence, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission in Washington, D.C.

"We see this as merely an equitable and common sense thing to do," said Judge William Wilkins Jr. of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, chairman of the seven-member commission.

"If you have the wherewithal to reimburse taxpayers for the cost of your imprisonment, which you caused through the commission of a criminal act, then you ought to have to pay," Wilkins said.

Some civil libertarians, however, are objecting. They say the inmates aren't getting their money's worth because of overcrowded prison conditions.

The commission instituted mandatory sentencing guidelines to be applied uniformly.

Judges must use discretion in deciding which convicts will pay for their prison stay. Only those who can afford the monthly payment of $1,210.05, plus $91.66 a month during probation, can be ordered to pay.

Those fees, calculated by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, cannot be imposed if they would leave the defendant's family destitute or on welfare, said Paul Martin, a commission spokesman.

"It was kind of a very simple thought - select those folks who have the ability to pay for their cost of incarceration or supervision," Martin said. "It's mainly earmarked, of course, for the `white collar' defendant."

Of the 45,000 cases that reach federal court every year, few criminals appear to fit the bill.

"Most people who are put away in the federal court system are indigent. They don't have a dime. I've had clients who didn't have enough money to buy a six-pack of beer," said Ron Wheeler, an attorney in Des Moines.

Last year, Wheeler represented a University of Iowa student charged with possessing LSD with the intent to sell. The student, Matthew Follett of Kenilworth, Ill., pleaded guilty.

In August, U.S. District Judge Charles Wolle sentenced Follett to seven years in prison plus four years of probation.

Noting that Follett had a substantial trust fund, Wolle also fined Follett $20,000 and ordered him to pay for his prison stay, plus the monthly fee during probation.

"I don't have any problem with that at all," Wheeler said. "If they're convicted and can pay the cost of being kept in prison, I think they should."