Work Release allows participants to maintain regular employment while serving sentences of confinement, thereby facilitating payment of family support, fines, court costs, taxes and restitution. Newly sentenced inmates who meet DDF’s eligibility criteria may serve their entire sentence on the programs; other offenders earn their way to work release providing they meet behavioral and program requirements and are not precluded from participation by the Court.
Eligibility Criteria
- Current offense is not Escape
- No escape from Work Release, House Arrest or Weekender status in the past 3 years
- Not precluded by the courts
- No detainers
- No pretrial commitments
- No pending charge or current commitment for designated offenses
- Minimum security rating
- No pending 8-505 or 8-507
- Negative baseline urinalysis at intake
- Approval of State’s Attorney and Victim Advocate when Victim Notification request is filed.
- Medical Clearance
- Not on probation for designated crimes if violation is pending
NOTE: With the exception of the requirement that they have no detainers and are medically cleared to work, inmates sentenced for Contempt/Failure to Pay Child Support are not required to meet DDF eligibility criteria providing the Court has ordered Work Release.
Fees
$15.00 per day for each day worked. Fees from participants sentenced for Contempt of Court, for failing to pay child support, are forwarded to the Domestic Relations Division for application to the purge amount set by the Court. Additionally, Court ordered obligations such as costs, fines and restitution are deducted from participants’ pay and forwarded to the appropriate payee.
Participants sentenced to the Anne Arundel County Department of Detention Facilities (AACDDF) are screened for Work Release eligibility based on the above criteria. If approved for immediate participation, inmates are placed on active work release status; if not, eligibility for future participation is determined and mapped. Once on Work Release, inmates receive comprehensive orientation, including a thorough review of Program Rules and the penalties associated with violations. Employment information is verified by telephone including days, hours and location of work or faxed documentation such as a business license and workmen’s compensation.
Job assistance is provided to participants who are unemployed at the time of assignment to Work Release, including job readiness and placement assistance.
Work Release participants are assigned to a Case Manager who is responsible for monitoring work schedules, maintaining communication with employers, developing a fee collection agreement, and conducting counseling sessions to review the inmate’s participation and progress in other institutional programs. Case Managers also conduct unannounced in-person job site and telephone checks and schedule random urinalysis.
Participants’ sentences are reduced by one day for every day of successful participation (Day for Day).
Work Release participants are subject to all departmental rules and regulations. Violations result in issuance of a Notice of Infraction and a Disciplinary Hearing, which is held within 96 hours, excluding weekends and holidays. Guilty findings result in imposition of graduated sanctions based on the seriousness of the rule violation(s) and/or prior record of infractions. Typical violations that may result in removal from Work Release include:
- Escape/Walk-off defined as failing to report four or more hours after scheduled return.
- Positive urinalysis.
- Positive breathalyzer.
- Refusing to submit to urinalysis or breathalyzer.
- Unauthorized absence from work or approved location.
Additionally, participants may be suspended for up to 14 days and/or lose accumulated diminution credits for lateness returning to the facility, giving false information to staff and other rule infractions or violation of rules unique to the Work Release Program.
Sentenced inmates are given priority job consideration. Upon intake, inmates who qualify for Minimum Outside will be assigned to jobs which allow them outside the securepart of the institution, including Lobby and Lounge clean-up, quartermaster and delivery assistant, etc. New, Medium custody inmates with short sentences may remain at JRDC and be assigned to internal jobs. Inmates rated Maximum at intake will become eligible for custody level decrease and assignment to a job and/or transfer to ORCC. Once a sentenced inmate begins working, he earns a day off his sentence for every day he works. Sentenced inmates who are found guilty of infractions are subject to suspension from the Work Program and loss of earned diminution credits as ordered by the Disciplinary Hearing Officer.
Though priority is given to sentenced inmates, Minimum pretrial inmates may be eligible to work, providing they are not on any sort of segregation. Typically, pretrial inmates will not be hired until they have been in custody for two weeks to allow time for posting bail. Pretrial workers earn Industrial Time at the rate of an additional 5 days per month. Additionally, pretrial workers are given a letter they may take to Court stating they served as an Inmate Worker. Pretrial inmates who receive infractions are removed from job status and are ineligible for reassignment.