County inmates earning their keep

PROVO — Eight years ago, Utah County officials asked a $14 million question: Why don't inmates pay for their own incarceration instead of forcing the government to shell out taxpayer dollars for criminal rehabilitation?

The county's answer to that question has turned into the biggest jail-industries program in the United States — a program that, to date, has brought almost $4 million to the Utah County Sheriff's Office.

The program at the Utah County Jail is one of only five jail-industries programs that operate nationwide, but even with just 12 percent of some 650 inmates participating in the program it is still said to be the most successful.

"(The jail-industries program) has brought in more money to the (Utah County) Sheriff's Office than any other sheriff's office in the United States," said Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Dennis Harris, director of jail industries at the Utah County Jail.

According to Harris, it costs more than $14 million a year to house inmates at the Utah County Jail. But the jail-industries program helps some inmates to pay for their own stay and possibly have money saved for when they leave.

The secret to the program's success was formulated by Robert Ward, former jail-industries director, who first initiated the program. He took a different approach to the idea that inmates can build products in the jail while they are incarcerated.

Ward decided against having inmates make products that compete with outside businesses. Instead, he decided to install a stringent screening process, then send qualifying inmates to local businesses where they could get paid for their labor.

"It's the kind of program that, when I started it, I really had no idea of all of the benefits to all of the different people that it was going to turn out to be," Ward said. "It exceeded my expectations on a lot of levels on what it does for the inmates."

Inmates who participate in the program are paid minimum wage and receive 20 percent of their earnings.

Ten percent automatically goes to a savings fund that is available to the inmates when they leave the jail, and 10 percent is available for use at the jail commissary or for other personal necessities.

The remainder of the inmates' salary goes to state taxes, the state victims reparations fund and the $61-per-day cost of staying at the jail.

The ability to pay for their stay at the jail as well as save money for themselves has a positive impact on inmates, Ward says.