Attorney General's News Release

December 27, 2007

Nixon recovers $780,722 from Missouri inmates for the cost of their care in 2007; five-year total tops $3.6 million

Jefferson City, Mo. — Inmates in Missouri’s corrections facilities paid more than $780,000 to reimburse the state for the cost of their care in 2007, thanks to the recovery efforts of Attorney General Jay Nixon. Since the beginning of 2003, Nixon’s office has collected more than $3.6 million for taxpayers from offenders in Missouri prisons, including claims from lottery winnings, inheritances, lawsuit settlements and bank accounts. Among the notable recoveries of 2007 were:

• $48,554 from Nick E. Johnson, who inherited part of his father’s estate. Johnson was sentenced for stealing a motor vehicle, assault, stealing and multiple drug possession counts.
• $40,085 from an inheritance received by Devin Brown, sentenced for possession of a controlled substance.
• $31,570 from Christopher Wyland, who was an heir to an estate. He was sentenced on multiple counts of involuntary manslaughter (vehicular manslaughter due to intoxication).
• $23,090 from Matthew Davis, from rental property he owns. Davis was sentenced for abandonment of a body and multiple counts of possession of a controlled substance.
• $17,172 from Jesse Wayne Smith, who received a workers’ compensation settlement. He was sentenced for multiple counts of second-degree assault.

“We will continue to ferret out and lay claim to assets from those inmates who have the means to pay for the housing and care they receive from Missouri taxpayers,” Nixon said.

A 1988 law, the Missouri Incarceration Reimbursement Act (MIRA), allows the Attorney General to take legal action to recover up to 90 percent of an inmate’s assets after any obligations to spouse or children are met. The average annual cost of incarceration in the Missouri Department of Corrections is approximately $15,000 per offender.

Since taking office in 1993, Nixon has recovered a total of more than $5.6 million in MIRA actions from Missouri inmates.

Inquiries from consumers should be directed to consumer@ago.mo.gov or 1-800-392-8222 (from within Missouri) or 573-751-3321 (outside Missouri).

All media inquiries should be directed to the Press Secretary.

E-mail      Phone: 573-751-8844         Fax: 573-751-5818