|
Larry Bennett, a
Montgomery businessman and former prison commissioner, wants a
hearing on Department of Corrections plans to convert the Montgomery
Work Release Center to a minimum-security prison.
The center on
the grounds of Kilby Correctional Center on Wares Ferry Road houses
almost 300 inmates who work for wages at free-world jobs and pay
restitution, child support and return 40 percent of their pay to the
DOC.
Prison spokesman
Brian Corbett said the conversion is part of a broader realignment
of the prison system that is necessary to return 1,400 inmates from
a private prison in northern Mississippi. A detailed explanation of
the changes will come later this week, Corbett said. A hearing is
unlikely, he said.
Bennett, whose
crew chief in his construction and yard-maintenance business is on
work release, said Montgomery-area employers of inmates were told
last week that after Jan. 30 the inmates would be housed in
Alexander City or Bullock County.
Transporting
inmates the 53 miles from Alexander City or 44 miles from Union
Springs is not practical, said Bennett, who was the first state
director of the work-release program when it was founded 32 years
ago, and served as prison commissioner in 1978-79.
"These are
not minimum-wage jobs. I am about to lose a crew chief in my
construction business. He drives a truck and runs the crew. He will
be difficult to replace," Bennett said.
"I'm
calling for a public hearing as soon as possible," he said.
"This, to me, seems a knee-jerk kind of decision."
He said prison
officials have said that expedited paroles have cut the number of
work-release inmates.
"They are
down by one-third, but they are not out of business," Bennett
said, adding that Montgomery area businesses such as his, as well as
groceries, fast-food operations and major restaurants, rely on
work-release inmates.
"These are
not just busboys," he said. "They are key people."
Corbett said
work-release beds have opened up because the number of work-release
inmates has declined from 3,600 statewide to 2,600 since April as
expedited paroles have increased to reduce prison overcrowding.
"We have
got to bring back 1,400 from Mississippi. We have got to have a
place to put them in secure facilities," Corbett said.
The Montgomery
Work Release center is scheduled to become a work center for
minimum-security inmates who work for governments or nonprofit
agencies without pay. Such inmates now come from an Elmore County
facility, he said. The program saves $12 million annually for the
agencies, Corbett said.
He said the
system calculated about a year ago that the work-release program
generated about $20 million annually, but operations cost about $17
million.
"Montgomery-area
employers concerned about losing their work-release inmates will not
lose the employees. They will be serviced from Alexander City and
Bullock County centers," Corbett said.
"We have
got to bring the 1,400 back. We don't have the funding to continue
to house them out of state. If Amendment One had passed, we wouldn't
have to do this, but we are past Plan A and Plan B and we have to
take the 1,400," he said.
About 1,700
inmates were sent out of state to meet federal and state court
orders to relieve overcrowding in Alabama's prison system.
State Rep. Dick
Brewbaker, R-Montgomery, has used work-release inmates in his
private business.
"I think
the program has a lot of benefits as long as care is taken with
which inmates are put on the program," Brewbaker said. "I
think it is better for people in prison to be working and supporting
their families. I understand the stress on the prisons, but I hope
they don't do longstanding damage to the work-release program.
"If
transportation becomes a big issue for many employers it will become
more trouble than it is worth," Brewbaker said.
|
News