This story is the first of two about the Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office’s inmate work-release program.

VIDALIA — Most have heard of the so-called “half-way house” between jail and society, but in Concordia Parish inmates have the opportunity to have a half-way job.

The sheriff’s office has for several years taken part in a Louisiana pilot program to help ease inmates back into society through a work-release program.

“Our goal is rehabilitation, to stop the repeat offender from happening,” Sheriff Randy Maxwell said.

To do that, the parish correctional facilities have intense religious and educational programs to take away excuses for those who would commit a second crime, Maxwell said.

The last leg of that stool is to teach the inmates a skill, he said.

“We have inmates doing everything from washing dishes to doing certified wielding,” Maxwell said. “We have electricians, plumbers and carpenters.”

Many prisoners are already skilled laborers when they receive their sentence, and the goal of the work-release program is to ease them back into society.

For a prisoner who has been serving a sentence for four or five years, leaving the jail — where their lives are completely structured — for complete independence might be difficult, Maxwell said.

“All that freedom might be too much to handle all at once,” he said.

Work-release inmates are not the same as the work crews often seen picking up litter on the highways.

Instead, inmates in the program show up at their jobs and are supervised by their employer instead of a guard.

Because there is less correctional facility supervision of work-release inmates, those chosen to participate are usually in the last year to six months of their sentence, when running away would make less sense because of sentence extensions, Maxwell said.

Prisoners who participate in the work-release program are paid by the businesses that employ their use, Maxwell said.

“We do this so when they get out of jail they won’t be totally broke and it will give them the ability to support their families,” he said.

Inmates in the program don’t get to keep all of the money, though.

The program saves taxpayers money by having the work-release inmates paying rent to the correctional facilities for their housing, Maxwell said.

Participation in the program is not difficult, Maxwell said, and business owners who wish to do so only need to fill out an application and meet certain insurance requirements.

The inmates who are allowed to participate are thoroughly screened, and no violent or sex offenders are allowed in the program, Maxwell said.

“It’s an extremely positive program, and I believe the community has accepted it wholeheartedly,” Maxwell said. “We can guarantee you someone who is alcohol and drug-free and who will show up on time.”