Inmate Help (cont'd) July 12, 2009 ERIN HOOLEY/Standard-Examiner An inmate crew from the Weber County Jail in Ogden works on a playground at the Marriott-Slaterville City Office on Friday. Cutbacks « From 1A covered has varied from 35 to 70 percent, Slater said, the county has always gotten some money to help cover its costs. This year, however, the Legislature cut the entire $2.2 million halfway through the budget year, and it was only through the work of local representatives that ,.j$l million was restored, Slater said. "We got about half the money restored, but with a pretty strong message: 'Don't expect more.'" Inmates are graded from levels one to six based on the crime they were convicted of and their behavior in jail, Slater said. Kiesel commander Capt. Brett Haycock said levels five and six inmates are eligible to be on the community work crews, and while there are fewer eligible inmates right now, there are also fewer sworn officers to i supervise them. Slater said several factors affect the number of inmates who can work in the community, including time of year and judicial sentencing practices. While he's not sure why there are fewer eligible inmates, he believes the dip is an anomaly. Haycock said he has already whittled his staff to a minimum and two of his officers were sent to the jail on 12th Street. transferred to the 12th Street jail- Plans have not been set yet, though, and Slater said jail officials just are playing the "what-if game" so they are prepared if things worsen. Lowther said he hopes the Kiesel facility will not be forced to close. "It would be a great hit to the community if we close it." transferred to the 12th Street jail. Plans have not been set yet, though, and Slater said jail officials just are playing the "what-if game" so they are prepared if things worsen. Lowther said he hopes the Kiesel facility will not be forced to close. "It would be a great hit to the community if we close it." There used to be six crews of level five and six inmates that would require officer supervision. There are only four crews now, he said. The facility has two or three inmate crews of just level six, which can be supervised by the entity they're working for. Each crew has six people. .:■>.• In the past, the crews would be booked a month or month and a half out, said Lt. Mark Lowther, assistant commander at the Kiesel facility. Now some crews are booked past September. The programs are valuable to both inmates and the community, Lowther said. Work release and community service programs teach inmates a work ethic and give them something to feel proud about, he said. "Nothing's guaranteed, but it smooths the transition to not being incarcerated." Most of the money inmates earn while on work release goes to paying victim restitution to the court, Haycock said, and the work done by inmate crews saves taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. To pay workers minimum wage to work at the county transfer station and compost facility would cost at least $600,000 a year, Haycock said. Crews work anywhere from the Weber Ice Sheet to the U.S. Forest Service. With fewer crews available, some cities that had relied on having free labor may feel a pinch because cities are low on the priority list of who gets to use the crews, Slater said. If the budget gets too thin, he said, the county would provide only essential services and those required by law. The county is not required to provide work release. In the worst-case scenario, the inmates could all be 72