Court Opinion

ID: 9518654
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 00:58:02.852967+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:29:42.626923
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE HEIPLE, specially concurring: I concur in the majority opinion which reverses the trial court’s order requiring the defendant to pay for his meals while in jail. Based on the law as it is currently written, the order must be vacated. But for reasons which follow, I believe that our State legislature should consider making a change in the law. It is true that there is no statutory authority which permits a court to order a defendant to pay for his meals as part of a jail sentence. However, there is a statute which permits a county board to assess against a defendant the cost of his incarceration in the county jail to the extent of his ability to pay. If an ex-offender refuses to pay such assessment, a collection can be accomplished only if the county board requests the State’s Attorney to institute a civil action. 111. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 75, par. 24. It would be substantially more practical and efficient if courts were given authority to order a defendant to pay such expenses either as costs or as a condition of periodic imprisonment pursuant to a sentence of probation. Such an order could be based on the same principles which govern an order of restitution as a condition of probation (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 38, par. 1005 — 6—3(b)(9)) or a judgment for costs (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 38, par. 180 — 3) and would eliminate the need to resort to a civil action for collection.