If a Cache County work program advances from the idea stage to reality, certain alcohol offenders could choose to participate in a weekend community service project instead of serve jail time.
Cache County Sheriff Sid Groll is evaluating whether a weekend work camp could be held at such locations as the National Armory in Logan or school gymnasiums to accommodate minimum security inmates. The work camp would be held two or three times a year.Rather than serve five to six days in jail for DUI offenses, Groll said a group of 20-40 inmates could provide service to the community and also receive counseling. The weekend schedule, from early Friday evening to early Sunday evening, would include an orientation on Friday, work on Saturday and counseling on Sunday.
"I think it's a very viable option for not just the punishment phase but for rehabilitation," Groll said. "There's about 25 percent of the inmate population that could be part of this. It eliminates the number of inmates and the amount of time they would spend in the jail."
Additionally, whereas the county covers costs of jail time served, Groll said participants in the work camp would pay their own way - at roughly $45 a day. Although participants would pay for the weekend camp, many of them would not have to miss work to fill their sentence, he said.
Approximately 60 county staff members would be required to coordinate and operate the work camp, Groll said, at a cost of $2,000 to 3,000. Yet because the offenders pay to participate, he said he didn't think the operating costs would impact the county's budget.
Before the work camp could be enacted, Groll said judges would have to be willing to sentence offenders to a future time. Also, community organizations would need to cooperate in identifying large-scale projects worthy of being used in the program - such as park landscaping and road clean-up.
Logan Municipal Court Judge Cheryl Russell Hackleman said finding projects is easier said than done.
"It blows you away that we don't always have community service programs," she said. "We advertise on the radio sometimes to see if people and communities have projects that need to be done. The opportunity for service goes untapped."
Hackleman said she thinks the idea is a great one but said issues of supervision, liability and practicality need to be further explored.
Groll said more details will be worked out, and he has asked the Cache County Jail commander to look at the possibility of establishing a work camp in May.