do inmates have to pay to be in jail?
<answer> Yes <context> Will Steel, Business consultant, parent, ex-felon after 5 years in U.S. fed prison. The criminal justice system and punishments are already draconian. Requiring an inmate to pay to be imprisoned would be over and above any draconian punishments which exist. That said the Federal gov and a partnership with UNICOR farms out prison labor to private enterprise for pennies on the dollar and equitable to pay compensating labor is 3rd world countries. Inmates already do all the labor in prison and are paid pennies a day to do it. In essence they pay for their imprisonment through thr jobs they do and the work they do for private enterprise who is benefiting from the cheap labor.