State pulls inmates from work program

• By RICHARD BURGESS
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: Feb 28, 2008 - Page: 1BA

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

LAFAYETTE — The state removed 50 inmates from a private work-release program this week after a financial review raised questions about unaccounted for inmate earnings.

The state Department of Public Safety and Corrections has transferred inmates at the privately run Lafayette Community Correctional Center to the Sheriff’s Office work-release program, state corrections spokeswoman Pam Laborde said Wednesday.

Laborde said the move was made because an operational review raised serious questions about the finances of the center, a nonprofit company that has a contract with the state to oversee work-release inmates.

The center is operating with about a $250,000 deficit, and much of that is money earned by inmates that should have been held in accounts for them until their release, Laborde said.

“A lot of it is going to be inmate savings,” Laborde said.

She declined to comment on what might have become of the money but said the state Legislative Auditor and the District Attorney’s Office have been notified of the preliminary findings.

The corrections department stated in a news release that “personnel are poring over numerous financial documents in order to ascertain the scope of the deficit and how it occurred. What is clear is that money owed to offenders for performing work-release jobs was not being properly accounted for.”

Inmates in work-release programs are generally low-level offenders who live under supervision in a group setting in the evenings and are allowed to go to jobs during the day.

Some of the money they earn is kept for room and board and other expenses.

The remainder is held in an account and paid to the inmates upon release.

“It allows them to build up a savings and have money,” Laborde said.

The Sheriff’s Office has agreed to absorb the LCCC work-release inmates into its program, Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt. Craig Stansbury said.

“For the most part, they will keep the jobs they have,” Laborde said.