Gwinnett County will revive a prison inmate labor program that supporters say has saved the county millions of dollars, even as it continues to evaluate closing the prison.
The county scaled back inmate work crews last year because many employees who supervised them left after the Board of Commissioners voted to close the prison. The commission later reconsidered and now awaits a staff recommendation due Oct. 30. In the meantime, inmate work crews that provide labor for the county and other local governments will be restored.
Operating six work crews instead of the 24 it once had, the county has found it difficult to keep up with park maintenance and other work performed by inmates.
“I think it’s a win-win for the cities and the county,” said prison warden David Peek. “It also provides an opportunity for us to get inmates out of the building and have them do something productive.”
In early 2009, prison work crewscleaned the Justice and Administration Center, maintained parks, painted over graffiti and performed other work.
The prison also contracted with several local cities to perform similar tasks. Cities paid $310 a day for a crew of eight to 10 workers, totaling $100,750 in 2008 and $75,950 last year.
Work crews provided labor that would have cost Gwinnett County $3.5 million in 2008 and $2.6 million last year.
Last summer, as the county tried to balance its budget, the Board of Commissioners voted to close the prison by mid-2011.
Gwinnett is one of 23 Georgia counties that maintain a local prison. Gwinnett's houses 423 inmates, including 299 serving time for county offenses and 124 state inmates.
The county also maintains a separate jail run by the sheriff’s department, which houses about 2,700 inmates, most awaiting trial.
Locally, Clayton and Hall counties also have prisons with work crews. Clayton County Warden Frank Taylor Smith said it would have cost the county $2.3 million to pay employees to do the work done by his inmates last year.
When Clayton's prison opened in 1992, Smith said, some residents objected that inmate labor would cost employees jobs. But he hasn’t heard that argument recently.
“We’ve proven our worth,” Smith said.
Savings from inmate labor haven’t insulated the Gwinnett prison from budget scrutiny. But last December the Board of Commissioners had a change of heart about closing the prison.
The Gwinnett commission raised the county property tax rate by 21 percent. Among other things, that restored some funding for the corrections department’s $12.7 million budget.
The commission requested a study of the corrections department operations. One question: whether the county should continue to operate a prison. That report is due Oct. 30.
The uncertainty about the fate of the prison had at least one unintended consequence: a quarter of the 142 employees at the time left for other jobs or retired. The department still has about 25 vacancies.
Some county departments, and residents, have noticed the resulting drop in inmate work crews.
Deputy transportation director Kim Conroy said that department will spend an extra $10,000 on overtime and contractors to pull weeds and trim bushes along Ronald Reagan Parkway because inmates haven’t been available. He said residents have complained about the road’s appearance.
Eric Horne, grounds maintenance manager for the parks division, said the county no longer trims weeds on some hillsides and other areas not used directly for recreation.
“It has been a challenge to get things done without (inmates),” Horne said.
A staff committee studying the prison’s long-term fate recently recommended boosting the number of work crews in the short run.
Peek plans to hire and train 18 corrections officers this year. That would allow him to boost the number of work crews back to the 24 budgeted for this year.
Last week the Board of Commissioners also voted to allow Peek to contract with local community improvement districts to provide inmate labor. One such district – Gwinnett Village – wants to use crews to pick up litter and maintain roadsides.
Gwinnett Village Executive Director Chuck Warbington said using inmate labor may save the district $50,000 to $75,000 on roadside maintenance.
“We’re going to use them as often as we can,” Warbington said.
Just how long anyone will be able to use inmate work crews will become clearer when the staff committee delivers its prison report.
Sabrina Smith, chairwoman of Gwinnett Citizens for Responsible Government, said she doesn't think closing the prison will save the county money. She said the county would lose the inmate labor and would still have to pay to house the inmates, likely at the county jail.
"What's the point of (closing the prison) if you're just taking it out of one pot and putting it in another?" Smith said.
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