(a)(1) The term convicted person, and the term convicted defendant, when used herein, shall each include any person convicted of a misdemeanor or felony by a court of competent jurisdiction within the State of Alabama, or any person incarcerated for contempt of court or for violation of a court order of probation by order of a court of competent jurisdiction within the State of Alabama, or any juvenile detainee adjudicated or found to be delinquent or in need of supervision, or person adjudged to be a youthful offender, by order of a court of competent jurisdiction within the State of Alabama.
(2)
Any sentencing court within Shelby County shall require a convicted defendant and the parent, parents, or guardian of a juvenile who is, or are, made a party pursuant to subdivision (5) of Section 12–15–31, as amended, to pay housing, maintenance, and medical costs associated with his or her or the juvenile’s incarceration in a county or municipal jail or juvenile detention facility or other similar facility within Shelby County, other than a special work release facility, and shall assess the charges as an additional cost of court to be paid by the defendant and the parent, parents, or guardian of a juvenile who is, or are, made a party pursuant to subdivision (5) of Section 12–15–31, as amended, as otherwise provided herein. The additional costs of court assessed pursuant to this subpart shall not exceed sixty dollars ($60) per day or the actual costs per day for housing, providing for, and maintaining that prisoner as determined from time to time by ordinance or resolution of the Shelby County Commission or governing body of the applicable municipality and certified to the sentencing court by that body, whichever is less, and shall be assessed for the entire period of time the person was confined in the jail, juvenile detention center, or like detention facility, other than a special work release facility, including any period of pretrial detention. The additional costs of court shall be taxed as costs of court at the time of sentencing and shall be in addition to any and all other costs of court. The assessment and taxing of the costs shall include an additional amount of court costs to be taxed for each day from the date of sentencing until the convicted defendant is released and discharged from the jail or detention facility. A copy of the sentencing order shall be forwarded by the clerk of court to the Shelby County governing body, or to the municipal governing body responsible for the jail where the convicted defendant is or has been incarcerated.
(3)
The assessment or collection, or both, of any costs herein provided for shall not relieve any defendant, juvenile detainee, or any other person from his or her continuing liability for all medical, surgical, hospital, or dental expenses incurred by Shelby County or any applicable municipality on his or her behalf, except and only to the extent the costs are specifically included in the per day costs established and certified by the Shelby County Commission or applicable municipal governing body as provided herein.
(4)
Nothing in this subpart shall be interpreted to create any new duty or obligation of Shelby County or any municipality to any defendant, detainee, or other person, nor create, enhance, increase, add to, or intensify any action or cause of action by or on behalf of any defendant, detainee, or other person.
(b)(1) When a convicted 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 pursuant and subject to the terms and conditions established by the County or applicable municipality.
(2)
When a convicted defendant, or the parent, parents, or guardian of a juvenile who is, or are, made a party pursuant to subdivision (5) of Section 12–15–31, as amended, is ordered by the sentencing court to pay housing, maintenance, and medical costs associated with his or her incarceration as herein provided, the assessment thereof, and the obligation to pay the same, shall be and constitute a continuing obligation, and civil judgment against the defendant and against the parent, parents, or guardian of a juvenile who is, or are, made a party pursuant to subdivision (5) of Section 12–15–31, based on the daily charge assessed for each day until the defendant is released and discharged from the jail or detention facility.
(3)
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 shall make payment of the costs a condition of probation or suspension of sentence.
(c)(1) The clerk of the court in which the costs are assessed, upon request of Shelby County or any applicable municipality, shall prepare and execute a certificate of judgment showing the total amount due to Shelby County or the applicable municipality and the name of the person ordered to pay same, which certificate of judgment may be recorded as other judgments as a lien against the real or personal, or both, property of the defendant, juvenile detainee, or other person or party ordered to pay same.
(2) A default in the payment of the housing, maintenance, and medical costs or any installment thereof, the assessment of court costs herein, or any judgment recovered herein may be collected by Shelby County or the Shelby County Commission, or both, or any municipal governing body responsible for the maintenance of the jail or detention facility involved by any means authorized by law for the enforcement of a civil judgment including, but not being limited to levy on, attachment and sale of real or personal property, or both. Shelby County or the municipal governing body shall also have the right to institute a civil action in the name of the county or the municipality stating the date and place of sentence, length of time set forth in the sentence, the length of time actually served, and the amount or amounts due to Shelby County or the municipality pursuant hereto; the suits may be brought in either the District Court or the Circuit Court of Shelby County, and shall be governed by established jurisdiction limits for both the district court and the circuit court and subject to the rules of civil procedure pertaining thereto; venue shall be proper in the actions in the Circuit Court of Shelby County and in the District Court of Shelby County, or at the option of Shelby County or the applicable municipal governing body, in the county of the defendant’s residence. Payments can be secured through any and all legal means including, but not limited to, deductions from the convicted defendant’s cash account on deposit at the jail, detention facility, or similar facility, civil lien on the defendant’s cash or other account on deposit at the facility, or on real or personal property of the defendant or the parent, parents, or guardian of a juvenile who is, or are, made a party pursuant to subdivision (5) of Section 12–15–31, as amended. The county or municipality may elect to place a negative balance on the record or account of the defendant to secure payment of any outstanding monies out of any future credits or deposits to the account by, for, or on behalf of the defendant.
(d) Monies collected for the housing, maintenance, and medical costs of a convicted defendant and assessed as additional court costs as herein provided, shall be collected by the clerk of the sentencing court and shall be payable to Shelby County or the municipality in whose jail or detention facility the defendant was incarcerated. Provided, however, that the Shelby County Commission, or the governing body of the municipality in whose jail or detention facility the defendant was incarcerated, may elect by ordinance or resolution duly adopted to itself collect and account for the monies independently of the clerk of the court, using county or municipal employees for those purposes. In the event Shelby County or any municipality shall elect to directly collect and account for the monies, it shall file with the clerk of the court an annual accounting of all sums thus collected.
(e) In the event Shelby County or any municipality in whose jail or detention facility a defendant was incarcerated elects to itself collect and account for the court costs and monies as assessed herein independently of the clerk of court, the Shelby County Commission, the Shelby County Manager, or the county commission designee or appointee, and any municipality is authorized to adopt and promulgate by ordinance or resolution any rules, regulations, and collection procedures which it deems necessary or advisable, or both, for those purposes.
(f) Shelby County or any municipality operating or maintaining a jail or detention facility housing persons subject to payment of the charges herein provided for, may provide notice to the occupants of its jail that they are subject to the Prisoner Reimbursement To The County Act or the Prisoner Pay To Stay Act and with the notice shall be listed the currently charged fees associated with the incarceration of inmates and detainees within the facility. The notice may be made by posting same at one or more points within the jail or facility or otherwise as determined by the sheriff, jail administrator, or county manager.