120 inmates flee program

Jeffco work-release walkaways highest inspectors have seen

Charley Able, Rocky Mountain News

Published December 26, 2005 at midnight

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GOLDEN - A recently released report says 120 work-release inmates walked away from the Jefferson County Jail over the span of a year from September 2004 to August 2005.

The team that assembled the report expressed "major concern with the high rate of walkaways," saying it is "by far the highest number we have ever seen."

The team's accreditation report for the American Corrections Association urged review of the county's work-release screening policies.

At the same time, it noted that security at the jail itself "was at a high standard and the team was impressed with the professionalism of the security staff."

A review of the program's screening program already is under way, said Jim Shires, sheriff's office spokesman.

The work-release program allows inmates to be temporarily released into the community without supervision to look for jobs or to pursue educational opportunities. Eligible inmates are generally nonviolent offenders who have been convicted of offenses that range from failure to pay child support to harassment and third-degree assault.

The work-release sentences allow inmates to earn an income, which often goes to pay child support or restitution to victims. Inmates in the program must surrender two hours' pay each day, up to a maximum of $40, to cover administrative costs of the program.

Of the 120 inmates who fled from the program over the period covered by the audit, 95 either returned to jail voluntarily or were apprehended. The other 25 remain at-large, Shires said.

The report was issued after a September inspection by a three-member team from the ACA's Commission on Accreditation for Corrections Standards.

Inmates participating in the work-release program leave the jail each morning and are expected to return each evening, Shires said.

As they return, the inmates are searched and their return is noted and entered into a computer. If an inmate is more than two hours late, the computer system automatically alerts jailers, who begin trying to find the missing inmate, Shires said.

When those efforts fail, an arrest warrant is obtained and the missing offender faces escape charges.

About 1,650 inmates have participated in the program this year. The 120 walkaways recorded in the 12 months audited by the ACA team would represent 7.3 percent of the inmates who served work-release sentences in 2005.

All felony offenders eligible for the program, as well as some "assaultive" misdemeanor offenders, go through a screening process, said Michael Riede, chief probation officer for the 1st Judicial District, which includes Jefferson County.

"There's a lot of emphasis put on criminal history," Riede said. "Then we look at drug-alcohol (use), mental health, employment. We look at everything. That weighs heavily in our recommendation."

The sheriff's office is examining ways to cut the number of inmates who walk away while on work release, including electronic monitoring, said Division Chief David Walcher, who heads the county's Detention Services Division.

Most of the work-release inmates who walk away do so in the early weeks of their sentence.

"We think if we can have some good monitoring of them right up front, (and) we can get them through 30 or 60 days in the program, the likelihood of them walking away diminishes drastically," Walcher said.

Most of those contacted said the jail's location near Golden makes transportation to and from jobs difficult for inmates and probably contributes to the high number of errant inmates.

In 2001, the last year the work release program operated from a building at West 16th Avenue and Kendall Street, only 46 inmates walked away. But in 2002, when the program was moved to the newly expanded county jail, the number of inmates increased significantly and the number of walkaways climbed to 95, Walcher said.

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