Chelsea mayor, other municipal leaders speak out against changes at Childersburg Work Release Center
On Nov. 16, the Alabama Department of Corrections announced plans for a three-pronged approach to improve staffing at correctional facilities.
The plan, which focuses on recruiting efforts, increases in officer pay and merging operations within the department, according to a press release, includes moving inmates from the Childersburg Work Release Center and having that property become a Life Tech Transition Center in March 2018.
On Nov. 29, the Talladega County Commission issued a letter to Gov. Kay Ivey, state senators and state representatives voicing opposition to these changes, which it said could have a negative financial impact on cities and counties that use inmates from the work release program for services throughout their communities. On Tuesday, Dec. 5, Chelsea Mayor Tony Picklesimer plans to issue a proclamation supporting the Commission's letter.
“I just don’t think it’s been thought out well by the DOC, the outlying impact of this,” Picklesimer said. “It’s a big deal to Shelby and Talladega County.”
The Childersburg work center opened in 1990 and offers educational, drug treatment and re-entry programs in addition to work release programs, according to the ADOC website. Inmates in work release may be assigned to government agencies, such as cities and counties, for paid employment.
Some of the inmates in Childersburg will be transferred to the St. Clair Correctional Facility, said Bob Horton, Public Information Manager for ADOC, and others would be transferred to other correctional facilities in the state. The new Life Tech Transition Center will provide vocation, education and life skills training, Horton said.
According to the letter from the Talladega County Commission, local governments are concerned that the loss of inmates labor “would mean that cities and county in our region would either have to replace that labor, at a cost of over $3 million dollars annually, or simply cease maintaining our infrastructure and facilities.”
“Either way, it’s our residents who will suffer, and when it comes to maintenance of public roadsides, they will notice,” the letter continued.
In Chelsea, two inmates assist with maintenance at the city’s sports fields and in landscaping around roads, Picklesimer said, and it could cost the city $100,000 to hire two individuals to make up for the loss of labor.
“Having us only using two people from the center, I just didn’t realize how big a deal it was, but to these cities who use 19 [inmates], it’s a huge deal,” Picklesimer said. “It’s how they get their trash picked up. It’s how they get their roads cleared.”
At the time of an interview with 280 Living, Horton said ADOC was not aware of the Talladega Commission’s letter to the governor, but said there is a plan to “continue to support the communities” that currently work with inmates from Childersburg.
According to the Commission’s letter, the negative financial impact would be $420,000 for the city of Childersburg, $400,000 for the city of Talladega, and $90,000 each for the cities of Harpersville and Vincent. Talladega College and Central Alabama Community College would face a financial impact of $650,000 and $230,000, respectively.
For some cities, the result could be “devastating,” Picklesimer said, which is why he wanted to speak out in support of the letter to Ivey.
“I don’t want to have to hire two people, but it also affects our neighbors in such a big way, such a great way,” Picklesimer said. “Vincent and Harpersville use a whole lot more from this facility, and I want to stand in support of them.”