Florida County Officials Want Inmates to Pay Up for Time Spent in Jail

Commit the crime, do the time -- and in doing the time, you should pay for your stay, supervisors in one Florida county say.

Riverside County officials voted Tuesday to introduce an ordinance seeking reimbursements from defendants for jail costs, which total an estimated $142 per day, MyFoxLA.com reports. It will be formally introduced at the supervisors' meeting next week.

The cash-strapped Riverside County could see up to $5 million a year from the measure, Supervisor Jeff Stone predicted.

County counsel Pamela Walls said the fees may be hard to collect because a court must determine whether the defendant is able to pay.

But Stone told the Riverside Press Enterprise that if an inmate is unable to cover the costs, the county would step in and put a lien against any property they may own.