Scott County explores using cheap labor from prison, Goodwill

BENTON, Mo. -- Free and cheap labor may help Scott County make ends meet.

During their regular meeting Tuesday, Scott County commissioners discussed participating in MERS Goodwill summer work and the Southeast Correctional Center in Charleston, Mo.'s work release programs.

For the Southeast Correctional Center's work release program, the county would have to have a supervisor attend a five-hour training session and pay each prisoner used $7.38 per day.

"They bring their own food; we furnish water, transportation to and from the correctional center," Commissioner Dennis Ziegenhorn said.

Ziegenhorn said the cheap labor would be especially useful now as the county still has debris from the January ice storm to pick up.

Unlike the use of county prisoners who are often unavailable because of court appearances or are only in the facility a short while, "it's a crew that we will know every day -- it won't change much," Ziegenhorn said. "And none off these inmates are from our area or have any contact with our area. They are screened by the correctional facility."

Also, the Southeast Correctional Center work release inmates do not require the same security measures county inmates do, he said.

"The supervisor does not have to carry a weapon -- they are not a guard, they are a supervisor," Ziegenhorn said.

Ziegenhorn said officials will check with the county's workers' compensation provider to see if the work release program will have an effect.

Southeast Correctional Center officials in charge of the work release program "are encouraging any communities that would like to have a crew," Ziegenhorn said. "She has a lot of people that are eligible for the program. Small communities in the county really need to look into it."

Even better than the cheap labor, but only for short time span, is the free labor available from the MERS Goodwill summer workers program.

"There is no cost at all to the county," said Presiding Commissioner Jamie Burger.

The program covers all the pay for workers ages 14 to 24 for up to 32 hours per week from June 1 to Aug. 31.

There is funding for a total of 65 positions in Scott County. To be eligible for workers through this program, employers must attend an hour-and-a-half long conference, Burger said.