Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Monday, May 19, 2008

An alternative to jail: Inmates work off fines

Dick Riniker photo

By DAN SPRINGER / La Crosse Tribune

In nearly every court case, a judge’s sentence includes fines and fees, and usually an order to pay within 60 days or sit one day in jail for every $50 still owed.

For many people, paying the fines — which can be thousands of dollars — never gets done and they are stuck sitting in jail.

But a county fine reduction program, put in place several years ago, helps these people get out of jail and work off their fines by doing work for a number of communities in the county.

In 2007, 266 people did community service, working off more than $67,000 in fines, said Justice Sanctions Coordinator Jane Klekamp.

Because of the way records were kept, there is no way to know how much of that was part of the fine reduction program and what came in other forms of community service. But Bill Pretasky, county community service coordinator, estimated about half came from the fine reduction program.

Under the program, participants get out of jail and work off their fines at $10 per hour by picking up garbage in city parks, county parks, boat landings, parking ramps and elsewhere.

In winter months, they work shoveling snow at public facilities, nursing homes and other places in the community, and picking up garbage where possible.

While some argue unpaid fines should be served in jail as a way to punish the individual and discourage re-offending, Pretasky calls that a waste of time that serves no one.

“Most of these people don’t have the money to pay for these fines,” Pretasky said. “If someone has a $1,500 fine and they’re sitting (in jail for) that time, that would be approximately 30 days. They’re not doing anybody any good sitting there. We may as well get them out doing a job that otherwise wouldn’t get done.”

This not only serves the community, Pretasky said, it also gives the participant the chance for a clean start and makes it possible to serve time without the loss of work and contact with family. Plus it reduces the jail population, which means a lower cost to the taxpayer.

“I like to call (participants) ‘You and I’s’ ... as in you and I can screw up just like they did,” Pretasky said. “These people usually have good jobs and good families and they just made a mistake.”

When Jeff Walz was taken to jail to begin serving time for an unpaid $1,000 fine, the 23-year-old West Salem, Wis., man said he jumped at the chance to take part.

“I thought this was a lot better than sitting in jail,” Walz said. “I had to sit in jail for just a day, and I couldn’t’ stand it — the environment and people I was around.”

Instead of sitting in jail for 20 days, Walz worked off his fine by picking up garbage on an area highway a couple of hours after work each day.

Pretasky estimates about 90 percent of the jail inmates who are offered the opportunity take it even though it requires manual labor, and they know that if they mess up, they’re back in jail.

Pretasky said having people work off fines by doing cleanup work got its start four years ago. County Board Chairman Steve Doyle asked if the county could have people doing community service by cleaning up sections of Hwys. 35 and 53 in La Crosse and Onalaska.

The city of La Crosse later came to Pretasky looking for help keeping the city clean, and Pretasky helped organize clean-up crews from the Huber Center on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Over time, the program has been revamped, with participants patrolling downtown La Crosse for garbage most mornings. Plus, work was expanded to include garbage details elsewhere.

La Crosse Director of Planning Larry Kirch praised the work being done by the program as an important tool in helping the city make a good first impression to visitors.

Kirch said he has not heard

any complaints about the participants causing problems and now rarely hears any complaints about broken bottles, food, paper plates or other garbage on the downtown streets.

The Fine Reduction Program is available to county inmates, but people sentenced by the Coulee Region Joint Municipal Court occasionally take part. But those sentenced in La Crosse Municipal Court are not given that option.

La Crosse Municipal Judge Dennis Marcou said he is empathetic to people who are financially unable to pay fines, but said he is not a strong proponent of having adults do community service work in lieu of fines and said he does not have the staff to coordinate such a program.

“I would be in support of having people in the late teens or early 20s involved, but I don’t think it sends any kind of a message to someone in their 40s for instance,” Marcou said. “Plus, I don’t know if the county or community gets anything out of it.”

Instead of community service, Marcou said he works with those unable to pay fines by offering them more time or setting up a payment plan.

Under current jail policy, inmates with both city and county fines to be paid can’t take part in the county’s Fine Reduction Program, Pretasky said, even if the county fine is much larger.

“It would be nice to get more of those people involved, but we just can’t,” Pretasky said.

How the Justice Sanctions’ fine reduction program works

Inmates who are in jail serving county fines and meet certain qualifications are given the opportunity to be released from jail and work off their fine at a rate of $10 per hour and a maximum of $120 per day.

Each day, Bill Pretasky checks the jail log for people held for unpaid fines, then goes to the jail and has each person fill out a short questionnaire to see whether the person qualifies.

Convicted sex offenders, people serving time for operating while intoxicated or failure to pay child support or a violent offense, those with escape convictions or outstanding restraining orders don’t

qualify.

Those interested sign the form, which Pretasky then faxes to each of the five judges so the first available judge can review and act on the request. With a judge’s permission, Pretasky contacts the jail to have the inmate released to his office. Pretasky explains expectations, work assignments and hours.

La Crosse residents report to Justice Sanctions before working, but those from outlying areas report directly to the job.

Participants turn in signed time sheets to help determine when they have worked off their outstanding fine. Pretasky said he knows how long a job should take and how much garbage should

be collected and checks

projects at the end of the day to determine whether participants were truthful on their time sheets.

Participants go back to jail if they aren’t where they should be, don’t complete their community service in the allotted time or violate any rules.

Dan Springer can be reached at Dspringer@lacrossetribune.com or (608) 791-8269.