In Tennessee, counties can opt to charge daily jailers’ fees, including to people charged with misdemeanors. Davidson County’s jailers’ fee is currently set at $44 per day.
For the Nashvillians paying these fees — in addition to other court costs and fees — $44 a day can quickly become an insurmountable cost. Seventy-five percent of Tennesseans who are charged with crimes qualify for appointment lawyers due to their low-income status, and many of the people subjected to jailers’ fees remain in jail because they cannot afford to make bail in the first place.
RS2018-1054 would remedy this by “fix[ing] the amount of jailers’ fees which may be applied to misdemeanant prisoners … in the amount of $0.00.”
