Religion
In reply to the discussion: “Pope Francis: it’s time to protect the children and restore the faith.” [View all]happyslug
(14,779 posts)I knew a couple of people on work release, but generally it is for minor offenses like failure to pay support, minor drug offense, minor assault charges etc. They served they time in the county system and worked during the day. Doable if the person is assigned to the County System, but such assignment only occurs if the sentence is less then three years. If the sentence is longer, it is the state system and most State Prisons are far away from where people had worked prior to their conviction. Work release sounds good, but it amounts to no more then probation given the tendency for many people to work non standard hours (i.e. weekends). Work release is a great program but only if the abuser is assigned to the local county jail, if assigned to the state system it is not workable.
In fact in most states that fact that you are in jail does NOT end your duty to pay child support. Thus the person with the support obligation ends up running up arrears while they are in jail. The problem is the arrears are NOT forwarded to the person entitled to the support until actual cash is earned and put into the system. Thus a person given a 20 year sentence, will be accessed support payments obligation during that 20 years, but no payment to the person entitled to the support till the prisoner is released and obtains employment, and then any welfare the Victim received must be paid back first and then the remainder to the family.
The system is designed to minimize costs to the State, NOT to provide adequate support to the victim.