Work release provides a chance to continue life while incarcerated

Kosciusko County Work Release provides an opportunity for offenders to continue providing for their families while serving a sentence for offenses.

Jerrad Jones, work release director, said not everyone is eligible for the program. Judges need to approve participation in the program, applications need to be filed, criminal background checks completed and behavior while incarcerated reviewed. “We typically reject more than we accept,” Jones said, noting the program is not for everyone.

Those seeking work release must be drug free, cannot have any pending criminal cases or hold from any other county at the time of sentencing. There are also certain charges that make them statutorily ineligible.

Work release participants come straight from the Kosciusko County Jail. While some enter the program with jobs already lined up or have the ability to return to work, a person can be accepted without a job and allowed to seek employment.

Those without employment begin as a trustee, cooking and cleaning at the facility, which is located in a former hotel converted into dorms for men and for women with a cafeteria facility added. These participants are given three weeks to a month to find employment.

The rules are simple: Go to work, return and remain drug free.

Work release officials work with program participants to see what they need to get a job. Can they drive? Do they need a driver’s license? Do they have a birth certificate and Social Security card?

“We allow them to go to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to get a driver’s license,” said Jones. Passes can be requested for such a matter.

Those who are trustees are allowed to go out and look for jobs. “We have several employers who will hire from the work release program. Our goal is to have them make life-sustaining wages in a jail environment, but freedom to stay up on bills so when they go out into the community, they are ready to go,” said Jones

Each participant is responsible to find their own transportation to and from work. “A vast majority are on their own,” Jones said. “Some walk to work. We do allow them to have bicycles or mopeds. Several have family members pick them up, others use a ride share.” Jones said occasionally transportation is provided for those who walk if it is raining.

Unlike serving a sentence in jail, where only video or phone visitations are allowed, work release participants can qualify for passes. These passes could be to visit family for five hours. To be eligible, the participant must have been in the program for 30 days, have all fines and fees paid off on current charges and be up to date on their rent at work release. Rent is charged on a weekly basis based on the participant’s gross income.

Individuals are also eligible to sign up for passes for specified lengths of time — doctor’s appointment, job search, GED classes, etc.

There is random drug testing.

“We are more flexible than jail,” Jones explained. Accountability is a key factor. “We believe in trying to help them.”

Jones was a jailer for 15 years and served as the assistant work release director during the last administration. “You develop a different relationship,” he stated.

Jones feels it is “fulfilling to be able to help folks on a significant level to take pride in themselves and I’m thankful I can help them develop on a different level.”

The work release facility has the capacity to hold 105 participants, but the optimal number is 75 to 85. The facility is divided into two wings, one for men, one for women; however; there are more men in the program than women. The two genders are not allowed to intermingle, except at mealtime and under supervision.

There are currently 68-70 male and female offenders in the program. Along with Jones, there are two assistants and a part-time employee.