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Jail division will become new center Photo by Jim Craven Inmates will be out working in the community during the day rather than sleeping or watching television when the community corrections department takes over the Talent Work Release Center this summer. Inmates will work hard all day, then go to classes By Dani Dodge TALENT � Jail just won�t be the same once probation officers take the county�s minimum-security jail out of the hands of deputies this summer. Instead of staring at dingy yellow walls every day, inmates will be working in the community � fighting fires, cleaning up cemeteries and clearing brush off trails. Evenings, those same men will be taking classes to learn new ways of thinking that will keep them from ending up behind bars again. The jailers won�t even carry guns. And the big plus: It�s cheap. The money work crews earn will pay for their keep and education. The county�s outlay for the Talent Work Release Center will fall from $750,000 a year to just $115,000. The center also will get a new name. Community Corrections Director Bob Grindstaff believes the new program, will reduce by half the number of people who reoffend and will have a direct impact on the amount of crime in Jackson County. "The big areas that are the cause of people remaining criminal are thinking like a criminal and not having a job and hanging out with criminals," Grindstaff said. "What we can do is teach people to think in a different way and teach people job skills that lead to a job.�� The new program is an effort to help deal with a $1.7 million shortfall in the county�s 2000-2001 budget. Even though about 100 people are released early from the county�s main jail every week because of crowding, officials were considering simply closing down the 59-bed work release center, built in 1976 for inmates with jobs, as a way to save money. The county jail system also includes the 190-bed maximum-security main jail and a 85-bed medium-security facility. Grindstaff, however, saw an alternative to closure. He reasoned that community corrections officers had experienced great success with a program of "cognitive restructuring" that teaches inmates about errors in their thinking. They also had been developing inmate work crews along with their crews of people fulfilling their community service sentences. Grindstaff suggested the corrections department bump up its efforts and take over the work release center. Sheriff Bob Kennedy thought the program had great potential and that the 10 deputies at the work release center could easily be assimilated into the stretched work force at the county�s main jail. The changeover becomes official July 1. "We have two cooperative department heads and we have jobs for the people who worked at the sheriff�s office,�� said County Administrator Sue Slack. "So laying off people and upper management issues are solved at the beginning." The community corrections department is hiring 19 people to supervise work crews, provide job training and run the facility, but for the most part they aren�t paid as much as deputies. One of those employees will be Charly Roberts. Roberts� job used to be determining who would be eligible for early release and supervising those who were released early. Now, he is the point man for the transition and will be a staff supervisor after community corrections takes over. "There are the bad ones that need to be in that building," said Roberts, motioning toward the county�s main jail. "But the others � let�s teach them something." So inmates will be given responsibility for tools, for their behavior and for the new facility. "We�ll treat them like adults," Roberts said. "We want to create opportunities for them." As he walked through the center, Roberts noted the dingy walls and poorly made beds. All that will change, according to the former noncommissioned Army officer. Inmates will be responsible for keeping the place shipshape. "We want to keep the facility clean, like we would a barracks," Roberts said. Inmates will be allowed to smoke outside the building, a privilege that hasn�t been given to Jackson County inmates for years. The community corrections officers also have been experimenting with bringing animals into classrooms and expect there will be a dog in the facility as a way to calm inmates and add a home-like cheer to the atmosphere. Instead of being called officers, those running the jail will be referred to as counselors. "We want offenders to know it�s a change," said Dale Eller, the department�s special projects manager. "We�re not jailers." And if the inmates get out of control or into fights, deputies will be called in from the medium-security facility next door. Neither the facility�s counselors nor work supervisors will carry guns. But they don�t expect behavior problems. The inmates will be doing physical labor eight hours a day. When they return, they�ll be in class. There�s no time for idleness and no energy for trouble. And if they don�t want to be part of the daily grind, they�re back at the main jail. Just like that. "If you don�t want to work, that�s your choice, but there�s no place for here for you," said Eller, a retired cop. "We expect a waiting list of people wanting to get in." "This doesn�t replace jail, but enhances it." Inmates will be chosen for the program after officials look at a number of factors, including their risk to the community, criminal record and reliability of showing up for court hearings. In the beginning it will be offered only to men, but the program may eventually expand to include women. Officials expect that about 69 percent of participants will be incarcerated on substance abuse offenses, 30 percent for property crimes and 1 percent for person-to-person crimes. The department already has work contracts with the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and Eagle Point National Cemetery. Cemetery Director Darryl R. Ferrell said he has hired inmate crews to clean and straighten gravestones. Normally the cost of straightening the stones would run about $90,000. Ferrell said the inmates did the work for only $12,000. "I�ve had no problems whatsoever," Ferrell said. "I�d recommend it to any employer. "That�s taxpayers� dollars I�m saving, and at the same time it lets the inmates pay back to society and gets them out of the jail house." Officials stress only offenders deemed safe enough to be out in public will be chosen for the program. "You want to keep the community safe and at the same time provide opportunities for them to build life skills so they can become productive citizens," said Eller. The county will track the recidivism rates of program graduates. Grindstaff said he expects it to be much less than would have been normal for people who simply did their time watching "Cops" on television. "This isn�t jail. This isn�t the community," said Grindstaff. "It�s something in between. "This is potentially a big deal and will have a big impact on crime in Jackson County." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA