Scott County sheriff's office launches prisoner work program

BENTON, Mo. -- The Scott County sheriff's office began putting prisoners to work Thursday to test a possible sentence-reduction program.

Sheriff Rick Walter said four Scott County prisoners were used to test the program. They were put to work throughout the day helping finish renovations to the courthouse lawn. Walter said from the first day's results, it appears the program will work.

Walter hopes to begin taking prisoners into the county to pick up litter soon. In exchange, those prisoners will get time taken off their sentences. Walter first proposed the program about a year ago, he said. Only nonviolent offenders who don't pose a flight risk will be used for the program.

"We're finally going to get it going," Walter said. The prisoners he's talked to about the opportunity to get their sentences reduced are "all for it," he added.

Missouri Department of Transportation currently uses prisoners from Southeast Missouri Correctional Center in Charleston to pick up litter, while Scott City uses prisoner labor to abate yard nuisances.

"If it works for others, why can't it work here?" Walter said.

Walter said the prisoners who performed the work Thursday seemed to like the program and did well at their assigned tasks.

Commissioner Jamie Burger said Walter's program is another way to save the county money. The work prisoners performed on the courthouse lawn Thursday saved the county from having to pay to contract the work, and picking up litter will free highway department personnel to perform other duties, he said. Prisoners will also be used for some road work around the courthouse, he said.

Burger estimated that one day shaved off the sentences of six prisoners would save the county $192 per day in boarding costs.

The work not only saves the county money, but it helps return prisoners to society sooner, so they can go to work and increase the tax base.

One of the workers has nine months left on a county sentence, said Walter. The same man has a job waiting for him when he gets out of jail.

"If he can come out here and work a month and cut that off his sentence, we're the better for it, and he is, too," said Walter. "He won't be in jail, he's provided a service for the county, and it gets him back in the work force so he can pay taxes like the rest of us, instead of being a drain on the taxpayers."

msanders@semissourian.com

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