Eau Claire County
(WQOW) - A tighter
budget has Eau Claire County giving the Huber Center
a hard look. The Huber Center
is the county's work release program within the jail.
Eau Claire County could decide to end its work
release program for inmates within the county jail.
"In a tight budget
climate, the county board takes a look at all its major cost centers, and right
now it costs about a million dollars a year for the Huber program," says Eau
Claire County Board Chair Gregg Moore.
A group of county judges, the
district attorney, jail staff, the department of corrections and others who
work closely with the jail are taking a look at if the county could better
spend that money.
"Every year the
county board includes in its budget some study areas to look specifically at
certain areas of operations, and this year the Huber program, the work release
facility, was one of the areas the county board selected to target," Moore
says.
That group is discussing four
options: closing the Huber
Center, revamping it to
make it more efficient, moving it into the new jail, or leaving it as it is. La Crosse County faced a similar situation several
years ago, and decided to close its facility.
"The Huber Center
is one of the prongs within the whole criminal justice system. We try to use a
multi-pronged approach, we try to transition people from the jail, instead of
just sitting in secure they're allowed to be in the Huber Center, they can go
out on a daily basis to go to school, go do childcare, go to treatment
programming, go to their jobs," says Eau Claire County Jail Captain Joel
Brettingen.
A few years ago, the county started
an evidence-based decision making program.
The goal is to combat an overcrowded jail population by reducing the
rate of repeat offenders.
"We've been molding
everything around that, so to take that prong away would be a step back,"
Captain Brettingen says.
Right now
there are 55 inmates in the Huber
Center. About 75-percent of them have work. Those who don't have to pay $5 a day to sit
in Huber. A recommendation of what to do with Huber
will be made in July to the county board.
