Debate smoldering in work-release proposal

SANDPOINT — The need — or lack thereof — for a work-release center in Bonner County continues to be hotly debated in the court of law and public opinion.

Daryl Wheeler, Bonner County’s Republican nominee for sheriff, is stepping up his assertions that the 60-bed facility is unnecessary and ill-advised in today’s corrections climate.

“Nationally, there is a downturn in using these types of work-release facilities because they’re so expensive to run,” Wheeler said during last week’s judicial confirmation proceedings in 1st District Court.

Wheeler told Judge Charles Hosack on Aug. 11 that electronic monitoring bracelets, alternative sentencing and other corrections approaches are rendering work-release centers obsolete.

Wheeler, who faces Democrat Larry Hanna in this fall’s general election, paired his remarks with a letter from a corrections industry expert who warned the county it was embarking on a “risky venture.”

Rod Miller, president of Community Resource Services in Gettysburg, Penn., maintains in the letter the county is too reliant on the projections offered by the facility’s would-be developers. Miller adds that work-release beds are not in demand in the region and there are no guarantees other agencies would utilize the extra space.

Rising housing costs and tightening budgets are also causing governments to embrace reduced jail use as a sentencing option.

“Many counties find that they cannot afford to house offenders who are able to be safely released into the community,” Miller said in the Aug. 6 letter.

Wheeler told the court he’s conferred with jail officials in Kootenai and Boundary counties and discovered existing work-release programs and facilities are going underutilized.

The only need, Wheeler asserted, is the one being manufactured by entering into the development plan.

“We will create an ordinary and necessary need to pay for that facility because we’re not going to need it,” he said.

But county officials are challenging Wheeler and Miller’s comments.

After the hearing, Sheriff Elaine Savage said the need for the facility is staring her in the face as room for inmates at the existing jail evaporates. Boundary County is in an inmate-space crunch and rents bed space from Bonner County, while Kootenai County’s work-release program is flagging because its inmates aren’t meeting the qualifications for work release, she said.

Savage said Wheeler is comparing work-release inmates to closed-custody ones.

“He throws these things out in the public forum, but yet he’s not talking about apples to apples. He’s comparing apples to oranges,” said Savage.

Savage emphasizes the work-release facility is a long-range plan that will ease crowding in her jail and open up opportunities for judges.

“This will help us. We’re not going to have 30 inmates right now on the county side, but once we have better space available we can start having more,” she said.

Richard Skinner, an attorney hired by the county to handle the financial aspects of the proposal during the judicial confirmation proceedings, strafed the Miller letter during last week’s hearing. Skinner said the letter contained nothing specific to conditions in Bonner County or Idaho, and added that Miller’s comments were outside the scope of the hearing.

“If this was a trial, I’d be moving to eliminate this from the record,” Skinner said of the Miller letter.

Judge Charles Hosack has taken the proposal under advisement and a ruling is still pending. The county is seeking judicial confirmation instead of voter approval because the proposal does not include a tax increase and is annually renewable.

Wheeler and fellow taxpayer Lou Goodness of Sagle are challenging the confirmation because they argue the plan circumvents the state constitution and imparts liabilities which would extend beyond a single fiscal year.