By Lisa Lucas Gardner, J.D. On June 10 at 1:55 PM
I recently read an article about M.C. Sheriff Tommy Whitt allowing inmates to be hired out for employment by an independent third party company that actually pays them to pick up trash alongside the roads. On top of it, that company pays deputies $35.00 per hour to oversee the inmates while they are working their "day" job and not sitting in jail doing their time. My question is this, "Why cant these prisoners work for free like the old days and do community projects at the direction of the Sheriff?
Now I'm the first to admit that I am very liberal minded when it comes to the civil rights of people...all people...including incarcerated individuals, but a paid job? Am I the only one who think that this isnt right? What the ???? Are they kidding me? There must be some kind of mistake. Why arent the inmates working for free and paying their debt to society like the good ol' days?
And please dont tell me that we taxpayers are paying the inmates to wash the sheriff's department's cruisers outside the back door of the jail. They better be doing that for free or I'm gonna flip! (When I was an officer back in the good ol' days we washed our own cruisers and saved the taxpayers the money.)
Has anyone else heard about the rogue, but very popular, sheriff out in Arizona who treats the inmates like real prisoners? He houses them in tent cities to relieve overcrowding, he dresses them in pink jumpsuits to calm their nerves and prevent escape, and he constantly reminds them each and everyday that they are in jail and not at a country club for R & R. He insists that the inmates must pay their debt to society while they are incarcerated by working for the state without getting paid. I think Sheriff Whitt should give him a call and get a lesson or two.
There is something fundamentally wrong here. The inmates are going out to work and get paid, the deputies line their pockets with $35.00 an hour using the taxpayer's vehicles & equipment, and it does end up costing the taxpayers even more in the long run because we have to pay the subcontractors who pay the prisoners & deputies salaries. Do you see what I see? A fleecing of the taxpayers again.
These same prisoners are the same ones that are in our local jail who dont get proper medical care, or dental care, or psychological treatment when needed, or haircuts on a monthly basis, or a family visitation schedule that really works. Sheriff Whitt cant seem to do more for the prisoner's civil rights inside the jail but allows them to go out and have a paid day job just to be politically correct, I guess.
Am I the only one? Some one please explain the rationale behind these policies to me. I say if they are physically able to work, get them up off their rears, outside into our communities, give them fresh air & sunshine, and work em' like the good ol' days, for FREE ROOM & BOARD!