It's no surprise that work-release programs are among the first to go when jails are overcrowded. When offenders are low enough risk to allow them to leave for work every day, it serves little public safety purpose to incarcerate them at night or on weekends in an already-full jail.County Commissioners approved a program Wednesday that gives judges the option of sentencing low-risk offenders to house arrest using ankle-monitoring bracelets rather than sending them to jail.
Offenders would be required to pay the $6.50-a-day cost of the electronic tracking devices. ...
Inmates eligible for ankle monitors would be those on a work-release agreement with the courts. The decision will be made by local judges and the monitoring and fee collections handled by the sheriff’s office. ...
The county is expected to order 10 ankle monitors and evaluate the program after two months to determine whether it is effective.
Travis County this year ended its work-release program. Travis offenders who previously would have been in work-release instead show up on weekends and participate in work crews instead of spending the weekend incarcerated. In Smith County, inmates previously incarcerated on work-release are now supervised through the day reporting center created by the county and Judge Cynthia Kent.
Like the solutions in other counties, Nueces County's approach in practice will require extra staff resources for monitoring. GPS is tracking is more resource-intensive than many agencies anticipate and is not a substitute for well-staffed community supervision. But I'm encouraged by their efforts to move non-dangerous offenders out of the jail and supervise them in the community. It's a small step in the right direction.
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5 comments:
Props to Sheriff Kaelin and the Nueces County Commissioner Court for this one. Sheriff Kaelin is a no nonsense kind of guy, just doing his job the best he can, protecting the taxpayer and public safety, trying to find a balance between the two. He has no ideological axe to grind.
do the offenders get paid for the work they will be doing on this programme? If not, how are they supposed to pay the $6 a day charges for the GPS?
Sunray, they're getting to go to their jobs. That's what work release is - you spend the nights (or weekends) in jail and get out to go to work.
Still, 6.50 a day is a lot for people who may make little more than minimum wage and are likely also trying to pay probation fees, fees for various court ordered "classes", restitution, legal expenses, child support, etc.
Add in probation fees, court costs, and then a fee for monitoring. Most cannot afford it
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