AN ex-cop will have to spend the next six months behind bars after the appellate court on Thursday upheld his conviction in the magistrate’s court.

But the outcome of the case resulted in at least one attorney arguing for more fines in cases such as the one involving the former policeman, instead of imprisonment of offenders.

The attorney — who was not involved in the case and who did not wish to be named — said that it will now cost the State thousands of dollars to house 31-year-old convict Phillip Steele over the period of his sentence.

He said the State could have benefited from the imposition of a fine, instead of now having to feed Steele, who wasn’t convicted of a violent crime.

Steele was sentenced last year June in the Santa Cruz Resident Magistrate’s Court, in St Elizabeth after being convicted on a charge of receiving stolen property.

The St Mary resident was arrested and charged in 2009 after he was found in possession of a motor vehicle that had been stolen in St Elizabeth.

Steele, whose service with the constabulary was terminated upon conviction, filed an appeal, but the Court of Appeal ruled against him.

The attorney voiced his concern about the incarceration-minded justice system, saying Jamaica should adopt the policy of countries such as the United States and impose fines instead of going the costly route of having to house inmates who do not pose a threat to the wider society.

According to information provided in 2008 by the Department of Correctional Services for the financial year ending March 2008, the correctional services spent $689,644.87 on each of the island’s 3,584 prison inmates.

This compares to the basic salary of $582,000 per annum, minus housing allowance, paid to a young constable; the basic annual salary of $495,467 paid to a firefighter; the $584,000 per annum paid to a private in the Jamaica Defence Force; and $628,526 in annual salary paid to a teacher with a diploma.