Even if you’re never convicted and the charges against you are dismissed, you can be billed thousands of dollars for the cost of keeping you in jail, the Kentucky Court of Appeals has ruled.

The court decided 2-1 Friday against a man who was held in the Clark County Detention Center for 14 months on a charge that was ultimately dismissed. But he was billed $4,008 for his incarceration.

In a dissent, Judge Sara Walter Combs said it is both “ridiculous and unjust” to charge a person “a huge sum … for the time spent incarcerated when the very dismissal of those charges underscores the error of his confinement in the first place.”

But Judge Jeff Taylor, joined by Judge Allison Jones, said the law allows any prisoner to be billed, regardless of the disposition of their charges.

The case was brought on behalf of "all persons similarly situated" by David Jones, who was arrested in 2013 and charged a $35 booking fee and $10 for each day of his confinement.

Nearly every state allows inmates to be charged for room and board, and Kentucky counties have recovered millions of dollars.

No bail for you: Kentucky counties 'wildly inconsistent' in how they treat defendants

Jefferson County only charges inmates a $35 one-time booking fee. If charges are dismissed or the defendant is exonerated, a refund can be requested.

Louisville Metro Corrections' Assistant Director Steve Durham says inmates are not charged a daily fee because "we'd rather have them spend the money to support their dependents."

A 2000 Kentucky law says a prisoner in a county jail "shall be required by the sentencing judge" to reimburse the county, except for “good cause shown.”

Jones alleged that Clark County’s collection demand violated the law because it wasn’t issued by the sentencing judge.

But affirming a Clark Circuit Court ruling, the Court of Appeals said a jailer’s authority to bill and collect unpaid fees is not contingent upon an order of a judge.

In her dissent, Combs said the law is “clear and unambiguous” that a sentencing court alone is vested with the authority to require reimbursement.

She said that under the majority’s ruling, "a person unjustly jailed upon his release can look forward to becoming an instant debtor through no fault of his own."

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She said such a person’s ability to support themselves and their family would be compromised, as would their credit rating.

She also said Jones' right under the Kentucky Constitution to be “free from the fearsome results of the exercise of arbitrary power” also was violated.

“Finally and perhaps most importantly,” she wrote, “Clark County can never reimburse Jones for the lost months of his life during which he was deprived of his liberty. Absent a judicial decree, it should not be permitted to add to his damage the debt for the time unjustly spent in jail.”

She urged the state Supreme Court or General Assembly to rectify this “glaringly unjust state of affairs.”

Andrew Wolfson: 502-582-7189; awolfson@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @adwolfson. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/andreww.