What do ponzi-scheming Bernie Madoff and money-laundering Toronto lawyer Simon Rosenfeld have in common? They both have amassed boat-loads of money, but still rely on taxpayers to feed, clothe and shelter them while in jail. South of the border, one politician is looking to change this.

New York state assemblyman, Jim Tedisco, has put forward a bill – dubbed the “Madoff bill” – that would assess the net worth of convicts and, if over a minimum amount, make them pay for their prison costs.

If passed, the bill would charge convicts who have a net worth of over $200,000 for the full cost of their imprisonment. Those convicts who have a net worth of less than $40,000 would pay nothing, and those in-between would pay a portion on a sliding scale. 

Not that the Alberta government is short on revenues (their deficit was entirely caused by rampant over-spending), but even if surpluses were still the order of the day, should taxpayers ever have to buy orange coveralls for white-collar criminals who have golden-nest eggs waiting for them on the outside?

Last year Alberta taxpayers chipped in nearly $133 million dollars (or $36 from every man, woman and child) to cover the costs of housing, feeding, clothing and hopefully rehabilitating thousands of prisoners in provincial jails and remand centres.

On any given day approximately 1,220 cons fill our four correctional facilities in Calgary, Fort Saskatchewan, Lethbridge and Peace River. To the government’s credit, Alberta’s daily cost to house inmates is the lowest or next-to-lowest in the country. When last calculated in 2005-06, Alberta’s cost was $106.31 per day per prisoner. This compared quite favourably to B.C. ($130.16), Ontario ($164.61) and Quebec ($116.97), and, to no surprise, is much lower than the $260.10 for federal prisons. That said, if these costs have grown at the same pace as jail budgets, the figure for Alberta prisoners is now likely $160 per day.

If Alberta adopted Assemblyman Tedisco’s plan, it could help recoup some costs and simultaneously address the bizarre situation where struggling taxpayers subsidize well-off jailbirds. Even if only 1 per cent of Alberta’s 1,220 convicts pay the full $160 per day, the province could recover $712,480 per year. If 5 per cent have assets over $200,000, the province would recover nearly $3.6 million.

While it would be nice to recover the full costs of jailing all convicts, it’s likely counter-active to indebt poor prisoners who, once out of jail, might be tempted to steal to pay back their government debt. Similarly, Mr. Tedisco’s bill exempts the convicts’ primary residence from the net worth calculation; this ensures family members won’t be obliged to sell their homes to pay their loved-ones jail bill.

Whether or not Albertans would feel as generous to do the same is uncertain. However, it’s doubtful many Albertans would argue in favour of subsidizing the food, clothing and shelter of prisoners who can clearly afford to pay themselves.

What is for certain, well-off prisoners won’t likely endorse this plan. But if they don’t like paying to cover their stay in prison, maybe they should think twice about committing crimes in the first place.