Daric Nix, an Alabama Department of Corrections inmate, loads pine straw onto a cart as he works at Lagoon Park Golf Course in Montgomery. Nix works at the municipal golf course through a work release program. 

Patrick Wilson, Alabama Department of Corrections inmate, places sand bottles in a rack at Lagoon Park Golf Course in Montgomery. Work camp inmates have been working at the municipal golf course since April of this year.

On the Web Inmate work release disciplinary breakdown

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Alabama gives more than 10 percent of its prisoners the chance to work on the outside, but it's an opportunity that many can't handle responsibly.

In just three months last year, nearly 700 violations were committed by 2,900 inmates on work release in 12 communities, according to Department of Corrections records examined by the Montgomery Advertiser.

While there were 19 escapes, most violations were minor behavioral problems or drug-related transgressions.

"People do leave and go get high, get drunk, whatever," acknowledged Bridget Taylor, who works in a Birmingham Subway sandwich shop when she's not serving time for credit card fraud.

Taylor is one of about 1,500 work release inmates who wear civilian clothes and go largely unnoticed as they bus tables and clean hotel rooms. The others wear white prison uniforms while they take out trash and sweep floors at government agencies or nonprofits.

Corrections officials divide the inmates in categories after assessing the degree of risk they present to the public. Under no circumstances can inmates convicted of sex crimes, kidnapping, drug trafficking participate in the work release program, which netted $10 million last year from the inmates in garnished wages and transportation fees.

Still, the program has drawn criticism from victims rights advocates. They say the state doesn't adequately supervise inmates who are on the job, consequently endangering the community. They point to a brutal 2002 murder by a work-release inmate in Montgomery as proof of that risk.

"Somebody should be (held) accountable for them getting beer and drugs," said Miriam Shehane, executive director of the statewide Victims of Crime and Leniency.

Of the 695 violations from July through September, 100 were for marijuana use, 44 were for the use of some other controlled substance or drug possession, and 40 were for drinking.

The Advertiser found 19 inmates in nine communities missing for periods of time as brief as 15 minutes to six and a half hours, almost an entire work day. From October 2004 through the end of September 2005, Corrections reported 43 work-release escapes, or 1.5 percent of the total population.

Observers, however, say the number of walkoffs can be misleading.

"Most of the escapes are not 'escapes,' " said Robert Sigler, a criminal justice professor at the University of Alabama. "Inmates are late reporting back or are temporarily missing."

One inmate skipped a doctor's appointment, turning up drunk three hours later. Others climbed into cars with women, only to return later.

"If they walk away," Sigler said, "they may steal but are not likely to hurt someone."

This summer, three escapes from work-release drew the attention of Gov. Bob Riley, who initiated efforts to tighten Corrections work-release standards.

Now those convicted of murder, manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide can only work for government agencies. They had been allowed to work in the private sector.

"To say that people who use drugs are nonviolent and murderers are violent, that's not always right," said Mays Jemison, a lawyer for the family of Melva Sue Johnston, who was killed by a work-release inmate serving a 15-year sentence for theft.

'One is too many'

Johnston died almost four years ago, brutally beaten by a work-release inmate she supervised at JPF Cleaning.

On May 5, 2002, Eugene Eutsey smashed Johnston in the head with a 46-pound piece of asphalt and left her body in a field outside Rave Motion Pictures, a movie theater cleaned by Eutsey and other inmates working for JPF.

Eutsey now is serving life without parole, but that hasn't put an end to the Johnston family's criticism of Corrections or the work-release program.

"I don't think the state did me or my family or my daughter right," said Melvin Johnston, Melva Sue's father.

Recently, the state approved a $1 million settlement for Melvin Johnston over allegations that Corrections employees contributed to his daughter's death by allowing Eutsey into the work-release program.

The Johnston slaying notwithstanding, Corrections Commissioner Donal Campbell said public safety trumps all other factors when it comes to work-release, though he acknowledges there are risks.

"The number of incidents that we have is very minimal," he said. "But one is too many."

Corrections officials reported 102 firings of work-release inmates between July and September.

Troy-based HB&G Building Products keeps a close watch on the work-release inmates it takes on, said Glenn Camp, the company's human resources director.

An August Corrections report describes the company's firing of an inmate who was caught with two containers of beer and registered .009 on a breath test. HB&G eventually rehired the inmate, Camp said.

"If they provide some evidence of good faith that they are cleaning themselves up, we'll bring them back in," he said. "It's a one-time thing, though. If they get off the wagon again, we won't bring them back."

Marijuana, cocaine, booze

For the three months reviewed by the Advertiser, substance abuse and drug possession were by far the most common serious violations committed by work-release inmates.

One report details a Bay Minette furniture company's firing of an inmate because he was drunk on the job. The inmate later wrote in his testimony: "I was depressed, and I done something that I should not have done."

The same month, a Childersburg inmate was fired from his work-release job at a thrift store when he tested positive for marijuana.

"Drug and alcohol use while on work-release, although some may be expected, it is not something that should be tolerated," said Lynda Flynt, director of the Alabama Sentencing Commission and a member of the Governor's Task Force on Prison Crowding.

In December, 16.7 percent of the state prison population were incarcerated for drug convictions.

"You do more for public safety by providing treatment than by locking addicts up," said Kevin Pranis, a policy analyst for Justice Strategies, which conducted research for New York-based Drug Policy Alliance's "Alabama Prison Crisis: A Justice Strategies Policy Report."

The group promotes the legalization of medicinal marijuana and policy reform for drug addicts and criticized the state for "allowing addiction to drive prison growth."

When work-release inmates test positive for marijuana or get caught with alcohol, they usually aren't dismissed but are required to enter a relapse program. A violation involving cocaine, however, means an inmate is out of the program.

Crime

Despite their hundreds of violations, the work-release inmates aren't inflating arrest numbers, records show.

The numbers for Childersburg, population 5,000, show there is no correlation between the work-release program and the crime in a community.

In 2004, Childersburg reported 297 arrests, which included those of work-release inmates, according to the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center. By comparison, Tallassee -- with the same population as Childersburg but no work-release center -- had 129 more arrests.

"Occasionally our work-release inmates will commit a petty crime or escape," said police Chief Chuck Brown, who characterized work-release as an "excellent program."

Not everyone has a rosy view of the program, though.

Atmore Police Chief Jason Dean doesn't like prisoners working in his town of 7,600. He cites "numerous incidents" involving the 220 work-release inmates.

"They're selling narcotics or bringing it back into the institution," Dean said.

Corrections records show Atmore's work-release center reported 14 drug-related incidents from July through September. The violations included inmates testing positive for marijuana and cocaine.

Dean says inmates aren't being watched closely when out in the community.

"If they're going to work in a supervised area, I'm all for it," he said.

Campbell doesn't deny problems with the program but believes it succeeds more than it fails.

"Whenever we bring that inmate from behind that fence, there are risks associated with that," Campbell said, noting that, for an inmate, a job can be a step in the right direction.

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