A piece of legislation meant to reduce county jail populations is headed for the Governor’s desk. House Bill 3039 was passed by the House on Monday. Rep. John Paul Jordan wrote the “Debt to Society Act of 2016” and it gives sheriffs and district attorneys the ability to create an inmate work program for non-violent offenders. The inmate has to be convicted to plead guilty to a non-violent misdemeanor offense and a judge must approve it.
“Instead of housing an inmate for 30 days, they would work for 30 days in this type of program,” said Jordan. “Instead of the public paying all the costs associated with housing an inmate, we could be allowing them to work in order to serve time.”
Under the bill, an eight-hour work day would be equivalent to one day in jail. The inmate could also earn a shorter sentence if the sheriff and district attorney include it in the rules of the program. However, the reduction can be no more than a third of the sentence.
“I think as we are fixing the state’s overcrowding problems, it is equally important to work on county problems,” Jordan said. “Instead of a top-down approach, this gives counties more flexibility in how they address their overcrowding problems.”
