Small cells. Sleeping bodies on the floor. Ten to a bathroom.
Jail overcrowding in the last 10 years has reached crisis proportions, forcing cities throughout the nation to implement stopgap methods of diverting the growing prisoner population.
In Du Page County, officials have attacked the problem by reopening the old county jail in downtown Wheaton to house minor offenders participating in its work-release program.
”This has to be the thing of the future. It just makes sense,” said Sgt. Robert Kostrzeski, work-release supervisor.
”It`s actually an attempt to divert people out of the criminal justice system,” said Du Page County Sheriff Richard Doria.
Under a court-ordered mandate, Doria said, the old jail can be used for work-release participants only, leaving the new jail available for incoming prisoners serving straight time.
Work release is a program in which non-violent offenders are allowed to maintain a full or part-time job in the community but spend the remaining time in prison.
The sentences range from one day to three years with the average time spent at six months. The participants are usually traffic or other minor offenders.
Work release is the only diversion program that requires prisoners to spend time in a jail facility. Others, in which offenders serve time outside the jail, include community service and electronically monitored home-detention systems.
The work-release participants are required to pay the jail $12 per day for use of the facility and, unlike prisoners serving straight time, must pay their own medical costs and any transportation fees. The jail makes provisions for sleeping and eating only.
Outside the prison, the participants are still restricted. There is absolutely no drinking or smoking in or out of prison.
One of the biggest advantages of work release, officials agree, is the cost factor, because it is economically feasible and beneficial to operate the program.
With prisoners paying their way, it defrays some of the cost of housing prisoners. In addition, because the prisoners remain in the working sector, they continue to pay taxes and can keep pumping money into their homes, reducing the chances the family will have to seek public aid.
”The program has considerable benefits,” said the county`s chief judge, Carl F.J. Henninger. ”It achieves a balance: They pay their debt to society and the individual is able to pay for his family. It is also our hope that the individual will lead a disciplined life from the enforced period of structured life.”
The program, located at the old county jail at 201 Rebber St. in downtown Wheaton, currently houses 80 men. The female participants reside at the county`s new jail at 501 N. County Farm Rd., also in Wheaton. Both programs were at the new jail but in September, 1987, as it became more crowded, work release was moved.
Doria said the work-release program has been in existence for about 15 years. During that time work release was authorized for use by state law but was used only in a limited number of cases.
”It was looked at as just a place that people came to serve jail sentences over the weekend . . . for very minor cases,” said Henninger.
A host of county and state level decisions inadvertently contributed to overcrowding, which in turn led to work release`s recognition. Doria described those decisions as having a trickle-down effect. The decisions include:
– In 1978, the Seventh District United States Court, under Judge Milton Shadur, issued a consent decree ordering the state to provide a usable bed for every prisoner in a state jail or prison.
– In 1983, the state stopped accepting minor offenders to serve jail time because of limited space.
– In 1987, the county began expanding and restructuring the work-release program.
”We had a responsibility to grow with the community. It wasn`t something we sought. It just came down,” Doria recalled.
Because of the growth in Du Page County in the last several years, county officials decided to give the program uniform policy and procedure.
”Judge Nolan, Henninger and I established a revised policy in cooperation with the courts,” said Doria. ”Prior to that, there was limited enforcement.”
Doria noted that the system lacked consistency. Frequently, prisoners violated the rules but weren`t properly punished. He said prisoners would often come in drunk, return from work late and sometimes fail to show up for work.
”The courts have sometimes put people back into the program (after breaking a rule) that didn`t necessarily need to be there,” he explained.
Doria said the collaboration between the courts and law enforcement officers added the following elements: criteria to ensure the proper people were sentenced to work release, proper monitoring of the participant and stricter enforcement of already existing rules.
Since the new policy was adopted, the program has expanded and operated successfully. According to the state officials, it is a model program.
”It is a well-run facility fully accredited by the American Correctional Association. That`s unusual because not many county jails are accredited,”
said Nic Howell, a spokesman for Mike Velarde, state jail inspector.
Doria credits a clear-cut, no-nonsense approach for the program`s success.
”I warn them ahead of time that `you better give your soul to God because your fanny is mine,` ” said Doria.
Kostrzeski thinks the ”you are in control of your destiny” approach works best.
”I just tell ask them to picture the scale of life model: a can of beer versus bricks all day, losing your job, home and wife. I ask them, `which one do you want`,” he said referring to the no-drinking or smoking rule. ”They generally choose to follow the rules.”
Doria and Kostrzeski agree the approachs works. For many, it is the first time any structure has been in their lives.
One 63-year-old repeat DUI offender described work release as the beginning of a new alcohol-free life.
”This is a good program. It has made me aware that you will get caught,” he said.
The offender, who declined to be identified, doesn`t hold an outside job but spends the time taking care of his invalid wife.
”I can take care of my wife whereas on straight time I wouldn`t have been able to. Plus I am getting counseling so, all in all, it has been beneficial,” he said.
He attends Alcoholics Anonymous two days a week as part of the program. Officials maintain that such allowances are another benefit of the program because participants get needed help.
”The program gives the people an enforced period of sobriety and counseling,” said Henninger.
William Allen, a tall limber DUI offender with bright eyes and a chipper smile, said work release has ”turned me around.”
”I am a married man with four children at home. I have a very good job. If it weren`t for this program, there was the possibility of losing everything,” said Allen. ”This is a good opportunity to pay my debts and maintain stability outside the work-release program.”
Allen, too, attends an alcohol prevention program weekly as part of his 90-day sentence.
”One out of 100 would say it`s not good,” said Kostrzeski. ”Look at what you get. They are free all day and don`t have to look at bricks all day. We give them structure. We give them a chance.”
