§ 14-6-22 — Misdemeanant Required to Pay Costs of Incarceration; Remission of Costs; Amount and Method of Payment; Payment of Costs as Condition of Probation, Etc., Authorized; Procedure Upon Default; Disposition of Costs

(a)(1) A court shall require a convicted defendant in a misdemeanor case to pay housing, maintenance and medical costs associated with the defendant’s incarceration in a county or city jail except as otherwise provided herein. Such costs shall not exceed $20 per day that the defendant has been incarcerated plus actual medical expenses incurred on behalf of the defendant. Such costs shall be taxed as costs of court and shall be in addition to any and all other costs of court.
(2) At the time of sentencing such defendant may petition the court for remission of the payment of these costs or of any portion thereof. If it appears to the satisfaction of the court that payment of the amount due will impose manifest hardship on the defendant or his immediate family, the court may remit all or part of the amount due in such costs.
(3) In determining the amount and method of payment of these costs, the court shall take into account the financial resources of the defendant and the nature of the burden that payment of the costs will impose. A defendant who has been ordered to pay the housing, maintenance and medical costs and who is not in contumacious default in the payment thereof may at any time petition the court which sentenced him for remission of the payment of these costs or of any unpaid portion thereof. If it appears to the satisfaction of the court that payment of the amount due will impose manifest hardship on the defendant or his immediate family, the court may remit all or part of the amount due in such costs or modify the method of payment.
(b)(1) When a defendant is ordered to pay housing, maintenance and medical costs, the court may grant permission for payment to be made in a specified period of time or in specified installments. If permission is not included in the order these costs shall be payable forthwith.
(2) When a defendant ordered to pay housing, maintenance and medical costs is also placed on probation or imposition or execution of sentence is suspended the court may make payment of the costs a condition of probation or suspension of sentence.
(c) A default in the payment of the housing, maintenance and medical costs or any installment thereof may be collected by any means authorized by law for the enforcement of a judgment.
(d) Moneys collected for the housing, maintenance and medical costs of a convicted defendant in a misdemeanor case shall be collected by the clerk of the sentencing court and shall be payable to the county or city in whose jail the defendant was incarcerated.

Legislative History

(Acts 1983, 3rd Ex. Sess., No. 83-837, p. 61.)