Hacks pocketing $2.5M in get-out-of-jail fees

The Boston Herald reports:

Almost 200 high-paid clerk magistrates and their assistants are padding their pockets with thousands of dollars in bail fees, a little-known perk payment that fiscal watchdogs say should go to the cash-strapped commonwealth.

The $40 fees are incurred by suspects who pay bail set by clerk magistrates and assistants after hours, when courts are closed. The fee goes straight to the judicial staffers - on top of their salaries of $84,000 to $110,000.

“This is a striking amount of money these fees are generating for these clerks,” said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. “They are paid well. This should be part of their responsibilities.”

Special people.