Jackson County looks a work release center to relieve increasingly crowded jail

A committee consisting of several county officials met to review the benefits and drawbacks of creating a program in Jackson County.

Under the proposal, inmates normally sentenced to serve time in the county jail in Brownstown would stay in a jail-like facility but be allowed to leave and go to work each day.

J.L. Brewer, who is proposing the idea, said that, instead of sitting idle in jail, inmates would pay a daily fee to live and work out of the center.

Brewer, director of the Jackson Jennings Community Corrections program, has proposed such a work center before.

“That facility is their home during that period, and just like home, you have to pay your bills and go to work,” Brewer said during the meeting conducted at Jackson Superior Court II in Brownstown.

Other members of the committee are the sheriff, two county council members, a commissioner, an attorney, two judges and a deputy.

Several of those officials have said in the past they believe criminal code revisions enacted by the state legislature in recent years will lead to more offenders staying in the county jail, which has 172 beds.

Starting July 1, a change in state law will require offenders convicted of Class D felonies and sentenced to one year or less to be housed in county jails or through a county detention program instead of state prison.

Lawmakers also are considering lengthening that to a year and a half or even two years, Councilman Charlie Murphy said Monday. Murphy, who also is the jail commander, is a member of the committee, which is looking at other justice-system issues including the possibility of establishing a public defender’s office.

Last year, the county sent 39 Class D felony inmates to the Indiana Department of Correction, according to the department’s website. In 2013, the number was 18, and it was 20 the year before.

The average inmate count at the jail in January was 195. There were 190 inmates jailed Monday. In 2014, the average daily inmate count at the jail was nearly 213.

Brewer said he’s basing his proposal on Dubois County’s facility, which he and some other county officials recently toured. Dubois County, with 42,361 people, has about the same population as Jackson County (43,466).

He said a center in Jackson County combining the work release and home detention programs would cost about $1.2 million to operate annually. Offenders pay a fee to use those programs, which are administered by community corrections. The state provides the county with money to help operate the community corrections program.

Brewer’s estimate does not include the cost of a building to house a 50-bed facility for both men and women, who would be kept separate. He estimated a new building would cost somewhere $1.6 million to $1.9 million. The possibility of using an existing building also was discussed.

Brewer said he thought the center should be in Seymour because that’s where the most jobs are available. Many who would use the program probably won’t have licenses and would have to either walk or drive a scooter, he added.

The fee for an inmate would be $15 to $20 a day. Staff would include two workers around the clock, and case workers could be shared with home detention, Brewer said. He said the center has the potential to be self-supporting as quickly as two years after it opens.

Inmates would pay for any other basic needs including food, toiletries and clothing.

“They buy everything, and we don’t buy anything except for essentially a roof over their head,” Brewer said.

Sheriff Michael Carothers said it costs a little more than $40 a day to house an inmate at the jail, and he said currently about 52 could benefit from the work release program.

He also said the cost of expanding the jail is an estimated $8 million.

Jackson Circuit Judge Rick Poynter said he’s on board with the idea because right now he has two choices for low-level felony cases: jail or home detention.

The program would offer him another option, particularly for nonviolent offender cases such as those involving nonpayment of child support, drunken drivers, habitual traffic violators and possibly some drug offenders.

“We don’t just stick anybody on work release,” Poynter said. “Child support (cases) are prime examples to use it because we put you in jail and you’re still not paying child support. ... With work release, you’re working and that’s the goal.”

The program would be optional for inmates, and if they get into trouble, they would go to jail, he added.

Case workers with the program would help inmates find jobs.

Jackson Superior Court II Judge Bruce MacTavish said there are companies out there looking for workers who will show up every day, on time and ready to work.

“They may not be the best guys in the world, but they are not having trouble getting these guys jobs,” he said. “They are more consistent than a lot of the revolving-door people. They have an incentive to be there.”

Brian Thompson, county council member, said he likes the idea of prisoners waking up each day for a reason and possibly helping a few of them to get on the right path before they are released back into society.

“I’d like to see them helped, and I think they have a reason to work. ... Maybe they can find out what it’s like to have some goal,” he said.

The committee, which also plans to review the benefits and disadvantages of creating a drug court here, plans to meet again at 4:30 p.m. March 12 at Jackson Superior Court II in Brownstown.