BOSTON -- A Massachusetts sheriff's policy of charging inmates $5-a-day to help contribute to the costs associated with their incarceration is being reviewed by the state's Supreme Judicial Court after being challenged by an inmate.

Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson said he collected the fee from 2002 to 2004, raising $750,000 over two years.

He said it was assessed to help provide financial relief for county taxpayers, but the program was stopped after an inmate filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the fee.

A superior court judge ruled that the sheriff had no legal authority to impose the fee and ordered a halt to the program, but similar programs are run in other counties and across the country, said Hodgson, who is appealing the ruling.

Hodgson cited a prior ruling by another Massachusetts Superior Court Judge that made it legal for other sheriffs to impose similar fees.

The fee is a "reasonable tax burden on those who commit crimes rather than on the taxpayers who are its victims," Hodgson said.

If the program remained in effect, and the fee continued to raise $375,000 annually on average, Hodgson estimated that taxpayers would have seen close to $3 million in profits by the end of this year.

The sheriff argues that the fees are within his discretion to manage jails and correctional facilities.

He said having inmates pay the fee helps offset the burden placed on taxpayers and teaches inmates responsibility while preparing them for re-entry into society.

The state prison system is facing a $100 million debt, said Hodgson, and a favorable SJC ruling would allow prisons statewide to assess nominal fees, potentially raising $10 million-a-year to help reduce the cost passed on to taxpayers.

If inmates don't have the money to pay the fee none of their services or medical care would be cut, said Hodgson.

Indigent inmates would have the fees debited against their account, he said.

"In order not to burden inmates going back into society, the account remains payable for two years, but if the inmate does not return to prison in those two years, the bill is forgiven," said Hodgson.

With the case going before the SJC, the court's ruling could have national implications for similar programs in other states, Hodgson said.