Opinion Letter to The Honorable Truman Wilson

JOHN ASHCROFT ATTOI<NEY GENERAL .ifdm~wy !ienm~d~ ~~ JEFFERSON CITY 65101 March 1, 1979 'I'he Honorable Truman Wilson d1ainnan, Senate Appropriations Carrmi ttee P£>0ffi 221, capitol Building Jefferson City, Missouri 65101 Dear Senator Wilson: OPINION LETTER NO. 2 This letter is written in response to your request which reads as follows: "If an inmate in the Missouri Department of Corrections is also a veteran and is eligible for collecting VA educational benefits and is also sinUll taneousl y receiving educational instruction under a separate federal grant, and therefore his VA benefit is not applied to his cost of education, can the State of Missouri charge him a per diem cost for food, housing, shelter, etc. an arrount of his VA be.nefit per rronth?" Assrnning that the inmate is receiving Vet.erans Administ..ra- tion benefits and that he is sol vent 1 the issue becorres whether the State may irnpose a per diem charge for 1i ving expenses incurred by an inmate in the Missouri Division of Corrections institution. While a jurisdiction can, by statute, require an inmate to pay for portions of his confinement after conviction, no such requirem?.nt can be placed on an inmate absent statutory authority. The com-t, in Tn re Gardner, 264 N.W. 647 (Wise. 1936), st:ated: 11 That there are no C"..ases bearing directly upon ·the proposition of the text [that a convict can- not be required to pay his expenses while in (314) 751-3321 Page 'Iwo The Honorable 'l'rmnan Wilson custcdy] is quite persuasive that it has never occurred to any one that a prisoner or his estate is liable for his support while in prison, in the absence of a statute making him so liable, and the proposition from the nature of i. t seems self-sustaining." 264 N.W. at 648. See als~ De~t. of Welfare v. Brock, 3?6 Ky. 243, 206 S. W. 2d 915 ("19"47); Auditor General v. Hall, 300 Mich. 215, 1 N.W.2d 516, 139 A.L.R. 1022 (1942). v\Jhile there is statutory authori. ty to impose liability for support upon inmates of county jails, §221.070, RSMo 1969, and to apply payments rr~Cide by inmates of halfway houses toward the per diem exr:x=nses of a halfway l:Y.Juse, §216. 221 ( 4) , RSivb 1975 CUm. Supp., we find no statute irrposing liability upon inmat..es of a Division of Corrections institution for his per diem expenses. ~---... OHN ASHCROFI' Attorney General