Pulaski County Sheriff Jeff Richwine continues looking for some direction, when it comes to adding a work release facility to the Justice Center. He asked county council members last week whether they wanted him to keep working on the proposal.
“I just kind of wanted to get a talk from you guys that, ‘No, Richwine, you’re spinning your wheels. There’s absolutely no way there’s any money for that,’ or ‘Yeah, we’re open to it, and if it’s something we can do, we’ll try to do it,’” Richwine said.
Council President Ken Boswell and Council Member Kathi Thompson were both in favor of letting Richwine proceed. Council Member Brian Young was also open to the idea, but asked whether there would be enough people using it. “I agree, but I also work at a place – and Sheriff, you know this – where we have trouble getting work releasers,” Young said. “The past two or three years, we’ve had trouble getting them. I don’t know if it’s the individual inmate doesn’t want to come out, they don’t want to do work. I don’t know if we don’t have the population.”
Circuit Court Judge Mary Welker felt that there would be a lot of people who would be eligible for work release. She noted that Pulaski County residents are currently being sent to Cass County, but Cass-Pulaski Community Corrections’ work release program there is almost full. Welker said that adding a work release center in Pulaski County would allow residents to stay in the community.
Richwine also pointed out that housing eligible inmates in a work release center would be cheaper than housing them in traditional jail cells. “Somebody on work release actually pays,” the sheriff explained. “It’s not going to fund the whole place, but it would sure knock a heck of a hole in the initial bill. Right now, a person on work release pays $112 every week, and you know as much as I’ve talked about what it costs to house somebody, we’re nowhere near that. And we wouldn’t be paying these people’s medical bills.”
Putting some inmates into a work release center would also let the county earn additional money by housing more out-of-county inmates in the existing cells. “There’s some opportunity for housing people,” Richwine said. “We just got a letter from Marshall County. They’re pegged out, and they’re looking for places to put some people.”
As for how much it would cost to add a work release facility to the Justice Center basement, there seems to be some confusion. Richwine said Rowland Design initially provided an estimate of $100,000 to $140,000, but other figures from Rowland apparently put the cost at $450,000. The sheriff said that if the county commissioners express support for the project when they meet tomorrow, he’ll start getting some more detailed numbers.
