Welcome to the Hotel Acushnet

There may be people in the Commonwealth who dislike the way the federal government has played fast and loose with the Constitution lately, but apparently, they are not on the Acushnet Board of Selectmen. This week, that august body approved a measure that would force people arrested in the Bristol County town to pay for the cost of their detention - $60 a night. According to David Wojnar, the selectman who proposed the measure, it will apply to all arrestees, which means, if Bostonist understands correctly, that an actual conviction isn't necessary. "We believe people should be accountable for their behavior," he explained. What he (naturally) failed to mention is that his idea is so unconstitutional it makes Bostonist's head hurt.

The problem is, getting arrested doesn't prove you're guilty, it just proves that you got arrested. If the town can charge people $60 without any proof that they committed a crime, well, it's punishing them without a trial. And even if you prefer to think of the $60 charge as a service fee rather than a punishment (sort of like a parking permit), it would be pretty unusual for the government to force people to pay for a service, whether or not they wanted to use it. (For example, the government can force you to pay tolls, but only if you choose to drive on the Pike, or to buy auto insurance, but only if you choose to own a car. Bostonist is pretty sure nobody volunteers to spend a night in the hoosegow in Bristol County.)

Even if we ignore the constitutional problems, the plan still seems dumb. Town officials say they'll send out bills after people are released and take them to small claims court if they don't pay up. This makes Bostonist wonder whether Wojnar & Co. have properly thought this through: They've devised a plan to save money that involves suing people for $60? Do they realize that small claims of $500 or less require a $30 filing fee? And that winning in small claims court requires showing up, which means paying someone to show up, which will cost at least $6.75 an hour (plus payroll taxes)? So even if the town could find someone willing to file the claims and go to court for minimum wage, and even if that person could win every case in under an hour (which, if you've ever been to small claims court, you know is totally impossible), the town's take would only be about $20. Brilliant. At least we don't have to worry about government at the state level forcing people to pay for services they don't want.