Part-Time
By JAY
Two hundred and fifteen North Caro¬
linians commute to work regularly, pay
S3.25 each per day for hoard, room
and transportation — and never blow a
dime of their paychecks.
Their wives get a full share of the
money for food, clothing, rent anti other
household expenses, and they know
where their husbands arc every minute
of every* hour of the day.
And. wonder of wonders, the 215
Tar Heels save money.
We owe it to envious women to add
this: the 215 men spend their nights
and week ends in prison cells.
These men arc the principals in an
operation which is unique in state prison
systems in the l Jnited States the
“work-release program."
Under it. prisoners hold their outside
jobs. Families remain intact and oil the
welfare rolls And the taxpayers save
literally millions of dollars.
"The program is extremely success¬
ful. beyond all of our expectations.”
said State Prisons Director George W.
Randall. Not a single prisoner has com¬
mitted a crime while assigned to work-
release, he added.
Since the program began with a
legislative act in 1957. prisoners par¬
ticipating in it have earned $2X8.946.
Of that amount. S92.109 has been dis¬
tributed to the prisoners' families.
Another S7X.425 has been paid to
the prisons department for maintenance
($2.25 per inmate per day for food and
a cell) and $15,171 has gone to the
department for transportation ($1 per
day per inmate for prison transportation
to and from the job).
The remainder has gone into a trust
fund for the prisoners, after the $5
weekly personal allowance has been de¬
ducted. I hey collect the surplus when
they complete their terms.
One prisoner in Greensboro, a single
12
Prisoners
JFAKI.VH
man, collected $2,500 from his trust
fund the day he was discharged. An¬
other one. in Raleigh, used his $1,300
to establish a welding business which
now is thriving.
Work-release was established pri¬
marily for inmates who have jobs when
they run afoul of the law, and whose
employers arc willing to keep them on
afterwards.
Under the present law, presiding
judges and the State Board of Paroles
have the authority to put prisoners
under the program if they have a job
or the promise of one. Prisoners sen¬
tenced to five years or less are eligible.
A prisoner who goes under work-
release turns over his paycheck to the
superintendent of his prison jnit. Main¬
tenance and transportation costs, as
well as state and federal taxes, arc de¬
ducted from it.
Then a check is made out to the
prisoner's wife and delivered by the
welfare department to the family. What's
left goes into the trust fund.
“It costs $1,328 per year to hold a
man or a woman in prison." said Direc¬
tor Randall. "The prisoner on work-
release actually pays his way through
prison.
"He also supports his family. The
majority of prisoners, while they arc
incarcerated, see their families go on
relief.
“As a dollar and cents proposition,
it's a good thing for the taxpayer.
There's also the humanitarian aspect.
When a man supports his family, it gives
him a degree of self-respect, and it is
helpful in rehabilitation."
One of the major problems for any
of the 1 1,000 state prisoners, when they
walk from behind the walls, is employ¬
ment. said Randall.
"He gets out broke, he can't get a
job. He has a strike against him. Quite
GEORGE W RANDALL
often it means he commits another crime
and comes back into prison.
“But this man (on work-release) not
only has a job. he has a kitty, and some
self-respect."
An enthusiastic supporter of work-
release is Judge Pretlow Winbornc of
Raleigh City Court. He has placed
more prisoners under the program than
anyone else.
"Work -release is a sort of self-proba¬
tion program." Winbornc said. The
assignment of a prisoner to the pro¬
gram isn’t an "out" for the judge, he
said. "It is a chance for him to do
something constructive."
There arc signs that employers arc
learning that work-release prisoners are
good workers, according to Garland
Daniel, supervisor of prisoner job place¬
ment. "Employers are calling in for
prisoners with certain skills." he said,
"and they arc giving the word to other
employers."
Work-release can be applied in any
county, if judges make use of it. Prison
officials currently are attempting to out¬
line the program to the judges, and
encouraging them to take advantage of
it more frequently.
Only one woman has been put under
work-release, mainly because prison
facilities for them arc limited to all prac¬
tical purposes to Woman’s Prison in
Raleigh.
Prisons Director Randall said that
many other states have asked for details
of the North Carolina plan, and indi¬
cated they arc interested in copying it.
The plan olfers an unusual oppor¬
tunity. he believes, to save tax dollars
and human lives.
THE STATE. 8 CPTCMB ER IS. 1962
