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Program offers inmates an alternative to a jail cell

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Photo by Bill Olmsted

Sara Streuly tamps down on the soil around a plant she just placed in the ground at Rotary Gardens in Janesville on Saturday. Streuly was one of about a dozen people who volunteered to take part in the new Rock County Sheriff’s Office Workender program for people who would otherwise be serving jail time.

JANESVILLE — Two jail vans pulled up at Rotary Gardens on Saturday morning.

Rock County correctional officers got out. Fifteen inmates got out, wearing orange vests that said “Sheriff’s workcrew.”

The moment was a new chapter in the history of crime and punishment in Rock County.

The Workenders program allows work-release inmates to stay at home during the week and pay their debts to society on the weekends.

Instead of costing taxpayers $64 a day for their care in the jail’s Huber dorm, the inmates work for local nonprofits.

The inmates all owe fines they can’t or won’t pay, so “arrest warrant commitments” are issued. If you’re caught with an AWC on your record, you go to jail.

Now, such inmates may be allowed to join Workenders.

It’s the first time any county in Wisconsin has done it this way, said Sgt. Brent DeRemer, who is in charge of the program.

The program also frees up beds in the often overcrowded jail.

The Workenders’ first job was to plant flowers at Rotary Gardens.

“Don’t be swearing at each other or making a scene,” correctional officer Anthony Barr had warned them, noting that the public would be watching.

“It should be an easy program. We’re going to work with you, and we expect the same respect,” correctional officer Janel Karstetter told them.

For the first three hours of the day that a Gazette reporter watched, the inmates were models of civility. They worked side by side with other volunteers without incident.

In a half hour’s time, they had filled two large flowerbeds.

“I never planted before, but I don’t think it looks too shabby,” one inmate remarked.

Inmates said they preferred working to jail.

“I can’t see any downs to it,” said Sara Streuly of South Beloit, Ill., who got off her night shift at 7 a.m. and reported to the Rock County Health Center.

DeRemer said the program is set up to change behavior, with serious consequences for those who aren’t responsible.

“You screw up, you go back to jail,” he said.

That’s what happened to two people Saturday. They were told to show up sober, but they blew positive on a breath test. They were taken to jail. One was cuffed in front of the rest of the group.

“We’re not going to treat you like children,” DeRemer said after the man was led out of the room. “… Please don’t let this happen to anybody else in here.”

All 18 inmates who were scheduled showed up Saturday, but there were minor hiccups.

One tore ligaments in his ankle at work. He was sent to jail, but he will be allowed to be a Workender once he heals.

One was late, but he called in to say his ride fell through, so he was allowed to participate but stay an extra hour.

Devanna Hughes of Beloit said anything is better than jail, where “you just sit there and stare at the walls.”

Chris Madden of Janesville had already served two days of a four-day sentence.

“It wasn’t bad, but I’d rather be out here,” Madden said as he dug another hole in the flowerbed.

Several inmates said they liked the fact that they could see their children during the week.

One of the goals is to get the inmates more connected to their families than to the bad influences they might encounter in jail, DeRemer said.

For now, Workenders are strictly people arrested on arrest warrant commitments. Normally, they would “pay” their fines at a rate of $50 for each 24 hours they spend in jail.

“So instead of those people just sitting in jail and doing nothing for their $50, the sheriff’s thing is to get them out and doing community service,” DeRemer said.

Work-release inmates, by law, get credit for an extra day of jail time for every four days of actual time served. The Workenders program gives another extra day for every three days worked.

So, a work-release inmate with a 10-day sentence would spend only eight days behind bars, but as a Workender, he would have to serve only six days, and only on weekends.

Eventually, the program may be expanded to low-risk inmates in the regular jail, and judges could even require Workenders as part of a sentence, DeRemer said.

He added: “We’ve got high expectations for this program.”