Section 2929.38. Reception and other fees

(A) A board of commissioners of a county, in an agreement with the sheriff, a legislative authority of a municipal corporation, a corrections commission, a facility governing board, or any other public or private entity that operates a local detention facility described in division (A) of section 2929.37 of the Revised Code, may establish a policy that requires any prisoner who is confined in the facility as a result of pleading guilty to or having been convicted of an offense to pay a one-time reception fee for the costs of processing the prisoner into the facility at the time of the prisoner's initial entry into the facility under the confinement in question, to pay a reasonable fee for any medical or dental treatment or service requested by and provided to that prisoner, and to pay the fee for a random drug test assessed under division (E) of section 341.26 and division (E) of section 753.33 of the Revised Code. The fee for the medical treatment or service shall not exceed the actual cost of the treatment or service provided. No prisoner confined in the local detention facility shall be denied any necessary medical care because of inability to pay the fees.

(B) Upon assessment of a one-time reception fee as described in division (A) of this section, the provision of the requested medical treatment or service, or the assessment of a fee for a random drug test, payment of the required fee may be automatically deducted from the prisoner's inmate account in the business office of the local detention facility in which the prisoner is confined. If there is no money in the account, a deduction may be made at a later date during the prisoner's confinement if the money becomes available in the account. If, after release, the prisoner has an unpaid balance of those fees, the sheriff, legislative authority of the municipal corporation, corrections commission, facility governing board, or other entity that operates the local detention facility described in division (A) of section 2929.37 of the Revised Code may bill the prisoner for the payment of the unpaid fees. Fees received for medical or dental treatment or services shall be paid to the commissary fund or resident program fund of a community-based correctional facility, if one exists for the facility, or if no commissary fund or resident program fund exists, to the general fund of the treasury of the political subdivision that incurred the expenses, in the same proportion as those expenses were borne by the political subdivision. Fees received for medical treatment or services that are placed in the commissary fund or resident program fund under this division shall be used for the same purposes as profits from the commissary fund or resident program fund, except that they shall not be used to pay any salary or benefits of any person who works in or is employed for the sole purpose of providing service to the commissary.

(C) Any fee paid by a person under this section shall be deducted from any medical or dental costs that the person is ordered to reimburse under a financial sanction imposed pursuant to section 2929.28 of the Revised Code or to repay under a policy adopted under section 2929.37 of the Revised Code.

(D) As used in this section, "inmate account" has the same meaning as in section 2969.21 of the Revised Code.

Effective Date: 01-01-2004; 10-12-2006