Request By:
Mr. David H. Bland
Kentucky Jailers Association
McCowans Ferry Road
Versailles, Kentucky 40383
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
KRS 439.179 provides for placement of sentenced misdemeanants on work release.
H.B. 440, 1982 regular session, Section 37, amended KRS 439.179, in providing that "every prisoner gainfully employed" is liable for the cost of his board in the jail at a reasonable amount, not to exceed tern dollars ($10) per day, established by the fiscal court. (Emphasis added). All moneys shall be collected by the district court and paid to the county treasury for use on the jail as provided in KRS 441.007.
You ask whether counties are to charge the room and board fee for just the days the misdemeanant is out working or for every day he resides in the jail so long as he is gainfully employed?
Under the literal language of KRS 439.179(4), as amended, and under the doctrine of pari materia, it is our opinion that the misdemeanant on work release can be charged the per diem board rate for each day he is actually gainfully employed. Dieruf v. Louisville & Jefferson County Bd. of Health, 304 Ky. 207, 200 S.W.2d 300 (1947).