Waterloo, Iowa — Civil rights groups today filed a notice of appeal in their federal class action lawsuit to block the Black Hawk County Sheriff's Office from wrongly extracting money from people before releasing them from jail.
While the sheriff's office claims it is charging the fees for the cost of jail room and board, we know that the money is used to fund a shooting range for the enjoyment of department employees and families, outfitted with laser tag, and ice cream and cotton candy machines.
The county and the sheriff’s office take money from people while they are still in jail and then demand more money after they are released. No one is ever able to contest their fees, in part because the sheriff requires everybody serving time at the jail to sign a “confession of judgment” document while they are in the jail. That document allows the sheriff to get a rubber stamp from the district court clerk, without a judge ever reviewing it.
In May 2024, the civil rights groups filed a lawsuit challenging the practices of the sheriff’s office and the county collecting these fees without providing any due process of law.
It was filed by Public Justice, the ACLU of Iowa, Fredrikson & Byron, PA, and Frerichs Law Office on behalf of clients Leticia (pronounced Luh-TEE-see-uh) Roberts and Calvin Sayers, as well as other individuals who have been forced to sign these unconstitutional agreements before being released from jail and who have had their money taken under the policies in Black Hawk County.
More details on the lawsuit can be found here.
In November 2024, a U.S. district court dismissed the lawsuit.
But the ACLU of Iowa and Public Justice remain profoundly concerned about Black Hawk County's practice and so is appealing.
"We know that imposing fees like the ones at issue in this case can have disastrous effects for those who are forced to pay," says Charles Moore, senior staff attorney with Public Justice. "Strapping someone with pay-to-stay debt after they leave a jail makes it so much harder for someone to successfully return home after a disruptive period of incarceration. But when counties and sheriffs choose to impose these fees, they must be sure their actions comply with the law and the constitution. In Black Hawk County, that is not happening."
ACLU of Iowa Legal Director Rita Bettis Austen said, "The Black Hawk County sheriff is aware of the problems caused by current practices used to collect fees. The county board of supervisors has raised concerns in the past about the way the funds are spent. Documents obtained by our firms show that the former sheriff who implemented these practices knew that the confessions of judgment resulted in many people owing money that a judge would never have made them pay, given their low incomes. The former sheriff himself described that these debts are for ‘room and board [which] are generally the fees that judges are willing to waive’ and collecting the debts from these people is like trying to squeeze 'blood out of a turnip.' We are asking the Court of Appeals to reverse the district court’s dismissal of our case so that we can try to stop this abusive practice."