After Jeffrey Epstein debacle, Florida sheriff will end work-release program
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A sheriff decided to end a work-release program at a jail that came under intense scrutiny in the wake of allegations that Jeffrey Epstein got a cushy deal a decade ago.
Before the Criminal Justice Commission could vote on its recommendation to keep or discontinue Palm Beach County’s work-release program, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw had already made his decision.
Epstein was placed in a work-release program after his guilty plea in 2008 to two state prostitution charges. He was sentenced to 13 months.
The program allowed convicted sex offender and Palm Beach financier Epstein out six days a week, 12 hours a day. He paid sheriff’s deputies to monitor him at his newly formed foundation, where he worked.
A woman said recently that she was flown in for sex with Epstein at the foundation offices. In July, an attorney representing some of Epstein’s victims claimed “improper sexual conduct” by Epstein while he was in the program.
Since 1977, the program has given certain inmates an opportunity to leave the jail during the day to attend their jobs, though it was seldom used during the past five years.
Bradshaw suspended the program and called for an evaluation, which covered the period from January 2014 to August 2019. The review wasn’t meant to investigate any particular case or inmate.
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This month, the Corrections Task Force recommended that the sheriff’s office continue its work-release program, on the condition that daily subsistence fees should be updated, separate policies be created for work release and house arrest and work-release participants must have personal health insurance.
State Sen. Lauren Book, who had called for an investigation into Epstein’s incarceration, said she didn’t agree with Bradshaw’s decision.
“It’s unfortunate that the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office work-release program, which did a lot of good for many inmates and the community, has been shut down because of misadministration,” Book, a Democrat, said. “Serial sex predator Jeffrey Epstein should never have been allowed to participate in the program. That mistake is on the sheriff, not nonviolent inmates seeking to honestly rebuild their lives, earn modest wages and contribute to their community.”
Chief Deputy Michael Gauger said Bradshaw agreed with the initial findings that the program was costly and had few participants. Only five counties in Florida have work-release programs. There were concerns that continuing the program could lead to contraband introduced into the jail or an accidental early release of an inmate.
The sheriff’s office will maintain its house arrest program, which could include work release should a judge allow it, but it won’t decide who can participate.
“Those parameters, like I said, have to be set only by the judges, not by the sheriff’s office,” Gauger said.
The commission supported keeping the work-release program with a vote of 13 to 2.
As the sheriff’s intentions were revealed, at least one commission member said she felt as though her voice wasn’t considered.
“It’s not going to matter what we decide here. It sounds like to me we’re going to end it anyway,” Barbara Cheives said. “I guess I’m wondering why we spent this time.”
Cheives was concerned about the “timing and optics” of the review.
“I just feel like this was a political football dumped around this table,” she said.
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Chief Judge Krista Marx disagreed, saying the review allowed them to take “a hard look” at practices and procedures. Besides, she said, the program had only a few participants at any given time over the five-year period.
Public Defender Carey Haughwout said she respected the sheriff’s decision but hoped the commission could find similar programs to implement, saying work release helps inmates get ready to get back into society.
“There are so many offenses now that have mandatory jail sentences that are applied irrespective of a person’s individual circumstances,” she said. “I think we as a progressive county should be looking for alternatives to incarceration programming for folks who could avoid incarceration and get services that are needed to get them out of the criminal justice system and keep them out of the criminal justice system.”
Contributing: Kevin McCoy, Paste BN
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