Jade01
08-11-2005, 12:40 PM
BY JAKE BLEED ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Lawmakers asked the state Department of Correction on Wednesday to assign more inmates under the Act 309 program, saying counties can use the cheap labor.
"The program is a great program and I’d like to see it expanded," said Rep. David Wyatt, D-Batesville.
The program allows counties and cities to contract with the department for prisoners, who perform public jobs like mowing lawns. Currently, the department allows up to 280 inmates to live in county jails and do county work.
But the program has had problems. State law and department policy require that inmates only work on public projects.
Earlier this month, the department suspended the Lonoke Police Department from participating in the program after finding that police Chief Jay Campbell used inmate labor to repair his boat and install a sidewalk to his pool.
A similar incident saw the department drop the Perry County sheriff’s office last year, according to the department.
And the Cleburne County sheriff’s office was thrown out of the program earlier this year after a jailer reportedly had sex with an inmate, according to the department.
Lawmakers largely ignored those problems during Wednes- day’s meeting of the Legislature’s Joint Performance Review Committee.
Wyatt said he didn’t feel those problems should limit a program that has saved Independence County "hundreds of thousands of dollars a year."
Rep. Chris Thomason, D-Hope, the chairman of the committee, said "the media" cover those problems but "fails to highlight" the program’s "value to county government."
He said the Hope Watermelon Festival is "made possible in large part by some dedicated 309s."
But Larry May, deputy director of the Department of Correction, said his agency isn’t interested in expanding the program.
The department relies on inmate labor to keep its costs low, May said. And the agency has a shortage of inmates that it can trust to use as workers.
That means the department must "balance" the number of workers it gives to counties through the Act 309 program against the department’s own needs, May said.
Dina Tyler, a spokesman for the department, told lawmakers that the department wants to make sure that only trustworthy inmates are given the freedom of working in public under the Act 309 program. There are risks to hiring convicted criminals, she warned.
"They’ll burn you, and when they burn you it can get ugly," Tyler said.
As of Wednesday, the department had 275 inmates working in the program, May said. Those inmates are working in 44 counties and three cities.
Under the program, the department pays the host county or city $15 a day and covers the cost of the inmate’s health care. In return, the department frees up prison space and the county gets free labor.
Wyatt said Independence County has "a model recycling program" that is run by some of the Act 309 inmates. Wyatt says the county should get three more.
He added that he is impressed with the intelligence and talent of the inmates in the program, saying he has told those inmates "I’d give anything to be half as smart as you are, or half as talented as you are."
Lawmakers asked the state Department of Correction on Wednesday to assign more inmates under the Act 309 program, saying counties can use the cheap labor.
"The program is a great program and I’d like to see it expanded," said Rep. David Wyatt, D-Batesville.
The program allows counties and cities to contract with the department for prisoners, who perform public jobs like mowing lawns. Currently, the department allows up to 280 inmates to live in county jails and do county work.
But the program has had problems. State law and department policy require that inmates only work on public projects.
Earlier this month, the department suspended the Lonoke Police Department from participating in the program after finding that police Chief Jay Campbell used inmate labor to repair his boat and install a sidewalk to his pool.
A similar incident saw the department drop the Perry County sheriff’s office last year, according to the department.
And the Cleburne County sheriff’s office was thrown out of the program earlier this year after a jailer reportedly had sex with an inmate, according to the department.
Lawmakers largely ignored those problems during Wednes- day’s meeting of the Legislature’s Joint Performance Review Committee.
Wyatt said he didn’t feel those problems should limit a program that has saved Independence County "hundreds of thousands of dollars a year."
Rep. Chris Thomason, D-Hope, the chairman of the committee, said "the media" cover those problems but "fails to highlight" the program’s "value to county government."
He said the Hope Watermelon Festival is "made possible in large part by some dedicated 309s."
But Larry May, deputy director of the Department of Correction, said his agency isn’t interested in expanding the program.
The department relies on inmate labor to keep its costs low, May said. And the agency has a shortage of inmates that it can trust to use as workers.
That means the department must "balance" the number of workers it gives to counties through the Act 309 program against the department’s own needs, May said.
Dina Tyler, a spokesman for the department, told lawmakers that the department wants to make sure that only trustworthy inmates are given the freedom of working in public under the Act 309 program. There are risks to hiring convicted criminals, she warned.
"They’ll burn you, and when they burn you it can get ugly," Tyler said.
As of Wednesday, the department had 275 inmates working in the program, May said. Those inmates are working in 44 counties and three cities.
Under the program, the department pays the host county or city $15 a day and covers the cost of the inmate’s health care. In return, the department frees up prison space and the county gets free labor.
Wyatt said Independence County has "a model recycling program" that is run by some of the Act 309 inmates. Wyatt says the county should get three more.
He added that he is impressed with the intelligence and talent of the inmates in the program, saying he has told those inmates "I’d give anything to be half as smart as you are, or half as talented as you are."