COSTA MESA : The Cost of Being Jailed Is Going Up

Those who are arrested by the Costa Mesa Police Department and do time in the County Jail will be billed $18 more in booking fees, a result of the county increasing its fees to $176.

The City Council this week voted to pass the increase to those arrested in the city who are sent to County Jail and later convicted.

Dick Greer, the commander of administrative services for the Costa Mesa Police Department, said such inmates will now be billed $176 by the city.

Greer said the charges cover the costs of fingerprinting, photographing, calling up criminal history on the computer and performing medical screening, all a part of the booking process.

In 1990, the state Legislature passed a law allowing counties to charge a booking fee, but it wasn’t until July, 1991, that the county approved its first booking fee at $154, Greer said.

In 1993, the county increased the fee to $158, and in early 1995, hiked the fee once again to $176.

The Costa Mesa Police Department arrests about 430 people a year who end being placed in County Jail. If the person is found not guilty, the city has to pay the fee, Greer said.