Sunday, June 06, 1999
Working prisoners save money
Kenton County agencies would miss help of 23
BY CINDY SCHROEDER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON — Throughout the week, 23 Kenton County prisoners can be found cleaning roadsides, fixing lawn mowers, even build ing shelter houses.
“If I didn't have their services, we would be spending a lot more money on labor,” said Chris Warneford, Kenton County's road supervisor.
At the Kenton County Golf Course, greens fees would likely go up if the labor provided by six prisoners were to suddenly disappear, said Bill Gibbons, the county's director of golf.
And without the help of two prisoners at the Children's Home of Northern Kentucky, Executive Director Kathy Stephens said, “a lot of things just wouldn't get done.”
All rely on labor provided by inmates from Kentucky's Class D Community Service Program.
The work program started about 15 years ago, when Kentucky prisons, facing a federal limit on the number of inmates they could hold, devised a pro gram that would let some state prisoners remain in county jails, providing free labor to their home counties.
Class D felons are serving one- to five-year sentences for state crimes that are largely nonviolent offenses.
In Kenton County, the 10 county departments and agencies that benefit from the prisoners' labor say they save thousands in taxpayer dollars.
At a seasonal pay rate of $8.77 an hour, Col. Rodney Ballard, chief deputy of the Kenton County Jail, said the 23 prisoners who work outside of the jail save county departments and agencies $8,068 a week, or $32,273 a month in wages alone.
Statewide, the 2,500 Class D prisoners on work details save local governments about $1 million a month, said Maribeth Schmitt, community detention branch manager.
“If we're short (on a given day), the (agencies) that use these prisoners will call up complaining,” Col. Ballard said.
Prisoners also like the program.
Mark Rohe, a 41-year-old Covington man serving a five-year sentence for felony driving under the influence, has worked at the Parish Kitchen
in Covington, picked up trash, spread mulch near the Northern Kentucky Police Memorial and helped with building maintenance within and outside the Kenton County building.
“This gives me a sense that I've accomplished something,” Mr. Rohe said. “I feel like I do make a difference. It makes my time go a lot quicker.”
The issue of the value of Class D prisoners surfaced in recent months, when county officials debated where to build a new jail. While the current jail has a capacity of 262, it recently has held as many as 325 prisoners.
Critics of some of the potential jail sites have repeatedly asked why the county can't get rid of all of its state prisoners and Class D felons. Opponents have complained that they contribute to jail crowding and cost more to house than the daily $25.62 stipend that the state pays counties to keep its prisoners.
While the Kentucky Corrections Cabinet is supposed to move its pris oners out of the jail within 45 days, Kenton County's jailer has said that rarely happens, because state prisons are also full.
“I think (the work program) is a good idea, instead of having a prisoner just housed here, sitting on his butt, not doing anything,” said Hayes Robertson, Class D coordinator for the Kenton County Jail.
Before they can be chosen for the Class D Community Service Program, inmates must be screened by the state. Their criminal history, risk of flight and the severity of their current offense are among the factors considered. Anyone convicted of a violent crime or sex offense is ruled out.
For the past eight years, two inmates from the program have handled a variety of tasks at the Kenton County Animal Shelter.
“We would get by (without their help), but it would really be tough,” said Diane Price, a shelter technician with the Kenton County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
At the Children's Home of Northern Kentucky, two inmates serve as an unofficial maintenance department, working under the supervision of the home's maintenance director, Ms. Stephens said.
“They've done remodeling, yard work, helped clean the pool — basically anything that needs to get done,” she said.
This spring, the prisoners have helped the children's home's maintenance director convert a basement cottage into a recreation room.
In the Kenton County public works department, six inmates do janitorial work, service machine parts, clean roadsides, paint fences, and pick up dead animals.
After the 1997 flood, it was Class D inmates who removed debris from Pioneer Park and made it usable for the public again.
“They've even helped us build shelter houses,” Mr. Warneford said. “We've had brick layers, block layers, carpenters — you name it. Once we know their abilities, we tend to put their skills to good use.”
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