In an effort to recuperate costs and ease tax-payer burden, the Calvert County Board of County Commissioners has passed a resolution that will allow the county detention center to charge fees to inmates who serve weekend sentences. As reported on Southern Maryland Newspapers Online:

“Weekenders” — or inmates who fulfill sentences over the course of consecutive weekends — will now pay $55 per 48-hour stretch spent in jail, revenues from which will help offset the increasing cost of inmate health care, said Major T.D. Reece of the center.

The commissioners voted unanimously to pass the resolution, which Commissioner Evan Slaughenhoupt (R) said was borne from a request from the detention center.

“It makes sense that the impact on the jail of folks showing up on the weekend ought to be offset somewhat by the folks who are staying there for the weekend,” Slaughenhoupt said in an interview. “If you don’t want to pay fees, don’t do what caused you to spend the weekend in jail.”

The article notes it is common throughout the state to charge a weekender fee to recoup the added costs associated with housing inmates on the weekends which include additional inspections, searches and urinalysis. The $55 fee is what it costs for the Calvert County Detention Center to house an inmate for one day.

For more information read the full article in Southern Maryland Newspapers Online.