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Starting next month individuals will no longer be able to hire work release inmates to do work around their homes.
News Channel 5’s Joel Massey has more on what the changes mean for folks used to hiring inmates for their inexpensive labor.
Bob Paul has been hiring inmates from the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s office work release program for about five years. From house painting to masonry he’s had inmates do just about everything around the house, and not just his own.
Paul said, “There’s people in the community that have no one that I’ve actually brought them over and let them work for them, for senior citizens and disadvantaged people.”
But now state work release inmates will only be allowed to work for businesses that can provide them with a W-2 form. That means that individuals like Paul will no longer have access to the inexpensive labor.
Paul said, “I’m hoping they will change their mind I do think it’s really going to hurt the senior citizens. I think they will be forced into nursing homes because they won’t be able to stay in their homes to keep their homes I hate to see that take place.”
Sheriff Chuck Wagner said the work release program is a self sufficient operation in a system that isn’t.
Wagner said, “The prison system is a losing business. When you look at work release they pay their own way. They buy their shoes, clothes, and toiletries. They’re self sufficient which eases the burden on the people, and it teaches them a skill and trade.”
Wagner speculates that the changes are the because of the perceived lower security in homes than in businesses. And the work release program does offer much more freedom than in regular lock up.
The inmates’ dorm rooms have no locks on the doors and that means that they can come and go as they please within the facility.
Paul says none of the 25 or so inmates he’s hired have ever walked off the job, and that the change will hurt not only him but the inmates as well.
“If they could really look at the big picture and they could see that this is a big step in rehabilitation with the workers. It’s a healing process that’s really important to them. Being treated nicely that’s an element that they’ll miss too.”
The changes are mandated from the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections and will take effect on November 15.
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I am not surprised at this action. The wealthy always seem to come out on top. The poor and elderly always seem to get the shaft. A program such as this one helped out many people. There seems to be no reason to stop this program.