I was at a work release in the Alabama Prison System. Hey it sounds good on the surface, but here is the real scoop.

Most of the jobs are minimum wage jobs. Let me give you a breakdown on what kind of money you can expect to earn and keep.

Let's say you have a job that pays above minimum wage. Let's say it pays $7/hour. On a normal 40 hour work week that is $280 gross.

Now lets take off the 25% they are going to get for taxes, thats $70. You now have $210 left after taxes.

The next deduction is the 40% the D.O.C. takes from each inmate. That comes off the gross wages, so that is another $112 to be deducted.

We now have $120 - $112 and that gives you $98 left.

Now we have to deduct the $5 a day that the D.O.C. charges you for the van ride each day. ( At todays's gas prices that is a bargain !! ) thats another $25 to be deducted. $5 a day x 5 days in the week

So now we have $98 - $25 gives you a balance of $73 left.

The next thing that comes off is 25% for fines and restitution, again that comes off the gross, and calculates to $70.

You now have the $73 you had left minus the $70 for fines and restitution.

That leaves you with a grand total to go on the books of $3.

You can bank a little AFTER you get the fines and restitution paid off.

Here is a way to beat them though. You are an employee of the company that you are working for. Go to the office. Fill out a W-4 form, asking the employer to withhold like $200 ADDITIONAL each week for federal taxes.
There is a place to do that on the W-4. Granted, you still won't get any money each week, but neither will the D.O.C, if there isn't anything to take it from. When you go to file taxes, you will get all that money back. The D.O.C will not mess with your income tax refund.

I was at a work release in the Alabama Prison System. Hey it sounds good on the surface, but here is the real scoop.

Most of the jobs are minimum wage jobs. Let me give you a breakdown on what kind of money you can expect to earn and keep.

Let's say you have a job that pays above minimum wage. Let's say it pays $7/hour. On a normal 40 hour work week that is $280 gross.

Now lets take off the 25% they are going to get for taxes, thats $70. You now have $210 left after taxes.

The next deduction is the 40% the D.O.C. takes from each inmate. That comes off the gross wages, so that is another $112 to be deducted.

We now have $120 - $112 and that gives you $98 left.

Now we have to deduct the $5 a day that the D.O.C. charges you for the van ride each day. ( At todays's gas prices that is a bargain !! ) thats another $25 to be deducted. $5 a day x 5 days in the week

So now we have $98 - $25 gives you a balance of $73 left.

The next thing that comes off is 25% for fines and restitution, again that comes off the gross, and calculates to $70.

You now have the $73 you had left minus the $70 for fines and restitution.

That leaves you with a grand total to go on the books of $3.

You can bank a little AFTER you get the fines and restitution paid off.

Here is a way to beat them though. You are an employee of the company that you are working for. Go to the office. Fill out a W-4 form, asking the employer to withhold like $200 ADDITIONAL each week for federal taxes.
There is a place to do that on the W-4. Granted, you still won't get any money each week, but neither will the D.O.C, if there isn't anything to take it from. When you go to file taxes, you will get all that money back. The D.O.C will not mess with your income tax refund.

Hey Bro, glad you're out. I just did 15 yrs. I wanted to say since you are keeping it real, don't forget the $12.50 per month for laundry. When I got out in Oct. I was at Childersburg W.R.
Walt

"Hey Bro, glad you're out. I just did 15 yrs. I wanted to say since you are keeping it real, don't forget the $12.50 per month for laundry. When I got out in Oct. I was at Childersburg W.R.
Walt"

Walt,

I got out in July of '07. Yeah Hamilton was a picnic. A small camp, run by a bunch of Red Neck white officers from up in the country. Very laid back. We even had someone break INTO the prison, on the day after draw day, and steal two of the big change machines, that was FULL of money. There were 3 officers on duty, one had gone to Walmart at 2 in the morning, one was asleep in the shift office and the other was way out back watching MIami Vice with the Miantence man. The Warden put a fence up around front after that!! It was funny as hell, they called the Warden in on a Saturday morning and he locked the camp down and questioned each inmate individually. I told him, "Well I don't know who did it warden, but I would start with the thieves and burgulars!!! Looks like you have about 275 suspects and make that 278 if you want to count the officers on duty!!" You could tell he hated to make that call to I & I on that one, and admit that someone broke INTO his prison!!

I stayed at Hamilton about a year and worked in the Law Library. I had it good there cause it was air conditioned, then I filed a motion and got my time reduced with some jail credit of over a year and I came down to Less than 120 left to EOS and they sent me to Montgomery Pre-Release. They just shut it down, but I worked in the law library there too during the day, and was very fortunate that there was this older black Sgt. that run the evening shift, that had retired that came back and worked. He use to run the SIR program there and had his owwn office out back with a color TV, computer, microwave, cable DVD players and everything. I was his runner, and I would go out there at 5:00 p.m when the warden went home, and he would always bring new DVD of movies he stoped and bought, or go get us something to eat. It was like being at home. A lot of times he would work over till 6 in the morning, and he would sit out there and play games on the computer watch movies, or just let me watch movies and hot rail for him in case the other officers came up or called on the radio and he would sleep. He liked the situation cause it was just me and him out there in an air conditioned office, and his officers stayed in the dorm with the other inmates. They didn't bother him, and he didn't bother them. I was VERY VERY fortunate. I didn't have to worry about getting a disciplinary at either camp, cause I had the officers damn well convinced that I would file an appeal with the Circuit Court of any disciplinary I got. I also promised them that I would not help another inmate file one on a disciplinary they got. So me and the officers got along really well.

No they didn't have any laundry fee at Hamilton, because the man that had the pay machines in there came and took them out, so the D.O.C. just washed the guys with everyone elses and didn't charge them.

I was making more money in the Law Library, filing motions for inmates, writing letters home for them on the word processor, writing letters to attorney's and I made a really good pop at income tax time.


Where as most of the work release inmates were lucky to keep $30 to $60 of thier money per week of the $300 they earned. I was knocking down $300 to $500 down a week in the law library, tax free, and just mailing that money home in an envelope and having them buy a money order and funnel what I wanted back into the prison to go on my books when I needed some to go shopping on. I came out with about $10,000 that I made from inmates just filing motions. Hell I didn't charge them but $75 to $100 per motion to file, they worked they had t he money,, and all it tookd was for me to get just ONE out early that had a split sentence and I had them lined up!!!!. When I got transferred to the pre-release, that was out because everyone there had less than 120 to E.O.S., but I still made a few hunderd bucks filing motions for reductions in fines. About 80% of those motions were granted, so I did Ok.


You still on paper???



Jeff

Jeff, Yes, I will be on paper until 2013. I,too, know how it is to deal with the RED NECKS of the south. I am from Chicago so I have always been the outsider. It took me a while to get it good for myself, mostly because I was moved from place to place. What all camps have you been to? I have been to LIMESTONE, RED EAGLE, STATON, EASTERLING, KILBY, CHILDERSBURG, STATON AGAIN, ELMORE, AND THAN BACK TO CHILDERSBURG AGAIN. That is where I was released from in October. I used to be a runner for the Officer that ran the Law Library at Elmore. That may have been the sweetest job that I have had while in.
WALT

How long do you have to be at a facility before hearing/finding out if you are going to work release? My man's been at Elmore since September of '07 and he told me that in January '08 he had a transfer put in for Childersburg. He still has not heard anything. He goes back up for parole this December and if I am correct he has over a year of clean record/behavior. We do visit one Saturday a month due to my work schedule so any kind of info would be helpful. We visit this Saturday so hope to hear something soon.

Thanks browneyes3balb

Jeff, Yes, I will be on paper until 2013. I,too, know how it is to deal with the RED NECKS of the south. I am from Chicago so I have always been the outsider. It took me a while to get it good for myself, mostly because I was moved from place to place. What all camps have you been to? I have been to LIMESTONE, RED EAGLE, STATON, EASTERLING, KILBY, CHILDERSBURG, STATON AGAIN, ELMORE, AND THAN BACK TO CHILDERSBURG AGAIN. That is where I was released from in October. I used to be a runner for the Officer that ran the Law Library at Elmore. That may have been the sweetest job that I have had while in.
WALT


I went to Kilby, Ventress, Hamilton Work Release and then to Montgomery Pre-Release. Were you released on parole or probation? Here is how working in the law library helped me. I was at Montgomery Pre-Release, and you know how they run you out of the dorm at 6:00 and won't even let you back in to use the bathroom. Well I went and asked, and they wouldn't let me in, so I took a leak on the fence outside. Well this old female back guard came out and caught me. She wrote me up. A 38 nonetheless. Well I had only 35 days until I would E.O.S. on probation.
Well I demanded a hearing, as usual they found me guilty. The Sgt. that served notice of the hearing did it in 12 days, not the 10 as set forth in rules. Well, I went to the warden. I pointed out that they not only served it late, but the admin rules and regulations, states, that the decision of the warden is final and cannot be appealed. I pointed out to the warden that this is a bald faced lie, because his decision can be appealed, and that is to the Circuit Court in the County in which the disciplinary was written. I then went on to inform him, that should he allow it to stand, that I would make this an issue of the appeal to the Circuit Court and challenge ALL disciplinaries that had been written because of that one statement, and we would see how many would get overturned because the inmates were not informed of thier rights. I domn't think he wanted to go to Court or even bring that issue up, because I already had the appeal drafted and laid it on his desk. He read it , and then dismissed the disciplinary they had given me. He did add at the end, IT isn't because you threatened an appeal in Circuit Court. It is the technicality that they served you late. That phrase is still in the admin rules and regs. It states that the decision of the warden is FINAL and CANNOT be appealed, which is a total falsehood, and is a basis for the appeal of ANY disciplinary.