do the crime, PAY the time?

Tonight on the news, I heard this story out of my hometown of Baltimore, MD. Basically, the sheriff wants to charge inmates $10 a day to be in jail. He also wants to charge them a $35 co-pay for dentist visits and a $25 fee for those that choose to pursue a GED. This measure has not passed in the county government yet but if it passes, the sheriff thinks he can see about $300,000 to 1.5 million dollars in income from these fees. These numbers are based on what the sheriff sees as a "fair amount"; he knows that he probably won't be able to collect all of the fees from every single inmate.On the whole, I think it's a good idea. As a taxpayer, I really don't like having to pay for other people's bad behavior. I think that these payments can act as extra incentive to not go to jail. Yeah, it sucks to go to jail in the first place (although sometimes I'm sure how much some people care whether or not they go to jail in the first place seeing as how they are repeat offenders) but I think that the monetary impact can be a bit more of a deterrent. I do see how a program like this could be a problem. I foresee inmate rights groups stepping in and saying that the financial burden would be too great. A year in jail would cost you $3,650 a year (hey, it's cheaper than yearly rent for most). I can see prisoners refusing to pay and then what would you do? Add time for them not paying? Some people just don't have money and really couldn't pay in the first place.What do you think? Is it a good idea to make people pay for their own jail time?