The Salt Lake County Jail's work-release program, originally adopted as a solution to jail overcrowding, is thriving and saving taxpayers money.
The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Home Electronic Detention (SHED) Program allows qualified inmates to do hard time at home instead of in a cell. Inmates are required to work five days a week doing labor-intensive jobs such as landscaping, snow removal, graffiti cleanup, assistance at local food banks and help in unloading public garbage at landfills. On the weekends and for a few hours every weekday, inmates are allotted free time to shop, attend church and visit friends."You could be standing in line at the grocery store with people who are serving time with us and not even know it," Salt Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. Dean Adams said.
Program leader Sgt. Brian Cogburn says success has prompted demands for growth. The project is expected to double to 200 inmates at year's end.
"It teaches inmates to go to work every day and gain some responsibility for their lives," Cogburn said.
But besides the obvious appeal to inmates, the undertaking should be welcomed by county residents as well, Cogburn said.
A recent program review, conducted by a University of Utah Social Research Institute team, gave hard data to accompany numerous anecdotal success stories. The research team examined a group of 206 inmates involved in the SHED operation prior to July 1, 1998.
The report discovered the undertaking provided the county with free labor, significantly reduced recidivism, lowered the amount of money spent on inmates and actually gave taxpayers a positive return on invested dollars. Specifically the report found:
The inmates averaged 10.3 bookings each during the year prior to entering the program. The following year participants averaged 3.1 bookings.
The inmates averaged 122 days in jail prior to participation. The following year the group averaged 19.3 jail days.
The SHED program reduced inmate costs to $23.42 per day -- down from $53.93 per day for a regular county jail inmate.
During 1999 participants logged 76,672 hours of work in the county. Inmates are not paid for their work, but if they were paid minimum wage of $5.15 per hour the labor would have cost $394,860.
Researchers subtracted the program's operating costs from the yearly savings gained by lower inmate costs and found the project netted a $126,363 gain on taxpayer funds put into the system. Overall, through decreased bookings, the yearly savings and reduced jail days, the report found the operation netted $1,267,953 in avoided costs in addition to the free labor.
But the program isn't without risk. Criminals normally locked away from society are comparatively free to roam about the public. While most participants are convicted of nonviolent offenses like forgery and drug crimes, many are felons. This year at least five have escaped. Two remain at large, Cogburn said.
"We conduct surprise checks, and we're notified if they even step onto their porch when they're not supposed to," he said. "There's always going to be a few bad apples in any bunch."
On the whole, most involved remain upbeat about the innovative corrections alternative.
"We try to help (inmates) who want to be helped, and most of them can be helped and are better for it," said Debra Fraser, case manager supervisor for the Avenues Day Reporting Center where program participants can attend classes on substance abuse and anger management. The center treats more than a quarter of the inmates currently in the SHED system, she said.
E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com