El Paso County Sheriff’s Office discontinues program that allows people to work post-arrest
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- The work release program in El Paso County is no more. The El Paso County Sheriff's Office says the costs to run the program have outweighed the need by arrestees at the El Paso County Jail.
According to the Sheriff's Office website, the mission of the program is, "to provide non-violent, sentenced inmates the opportunity to continue their livelihood, education or therapy while serving their sentence. Individuals participating in the Work Release Program are able to maintain their employment, pay restitution for their crimes, and continue supporting their families while being incarcerated."
Arrestees were able to pay $22 a day to work their job and then return to a Metro Work Release Facility in downtown Colorado Springs. That location is no longer housing inmates. According to the Sheriff's Office, they are all being housed at the El Paso County Jail now.
A spokesperson for the Sheriff's Office tells 13 Investigates that a cost/benefit analysis was completed while the program was shut down during the pandemic. That analysis revealed that discontinuing the program would save El Paso County taxpayers $750,000 annually.
"That money would include salaries for the deputies running that facility, we were paying rent for the facility we were operating the work release out of, and so coming out of COVID we released it was better to not do it than to do it," Sgt. Jason Garrett said.
Garrett told 13 Investigates that the reality is that sentenced individuals may lose employment due to the lack of a work release program. However, the decision, under state law, was entirely up to Sheriff Bill Elder, a decision he made in the interest of being fiscally responsible.
"There are certain mandates that are placed on a Sheriff by state law and having a work release program is just simply not one of those," Sgt. Garrett said. "In this era of budget constraints, sometimes severe budget constraints, Sheriff Elder has to look at how we can best serve the citizens of this community."
Taylor Pendergrass, Director of Advocacy with the American Civil Liberties Union in Colorado, said the absence of a work release program will harm inmates who belong to the county with the highest number of incarcerated people.
"El Paso County should be locking up a lot fewer people and when they do lock up people it is incredibly disruptive for work, for employment, for taking care of your family," Pendergrass said.
Pendergrass questions whether discontinuing the work release program lead to savings for El Paso County taxpayers.
"There is no way that if you account for all of the costs that come with disrupting someone's employment, including if that person is a caretaker for their family, that the costs outweigh the benefits of work release programs," Pendergrass said.
13 Investigates reached out to the Pueblo County Sheriff's Office to see if they had a functioning work release program. A spokesperson said they have not had one for the last six years, largely because they needed to divert deputies to work the Dennis Maes Judicial Building at the time.
Moving forward, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office says, "As always, we are always committed in better serving the needs of the community while being mindful of our budget constraints. It has been very important to Sheriff Elder to be fiscally responsible for the citizens of El Paso County."
