FACILITY GIVES LENAWEE JUDGES SENTENCE OPTIONS

ADRIAN - For several years, Lenawee County District Judge James Sheridan
has had to consider how crowded the county jail is before he sends someone
else there.

And for several years, he and other judges have pleaded for other options.

Surrounded by factories and empty office space, Lenawee County's first
privately run work-release and counseling facility has finally found its home.

One year after he had hoped to offer an alternative to jail time for
nonviolent offenders, local lawyer James Daly opened the doors of a
20,000-square-foot facility at 1020 Michigan St. in the city's east end.
Local judges are not trying to help or hurt Mr. Daly's endeavor, but they
are thankful for the option.

"There is nothing more frustrating than when you're sitting on the bench,
saying that this person really deserves jail time, but I can't do it
because there's no room," Judge Sheridan said. "How would you feel going
into the boxing ring for a number of years with one hand tied behind your
back, and then someone cut the rope?"

The Lenawee Development Corporation Work Release Facility was conceived in
January, 2001, as an alternative for Lenawee County judges when sentencing
nonviolent offenders. The facility targets inmates who could be better
served with treatment programs instead of jail time, including repeat
drunken drivers and retail fraud offenders.

Residents report to work for their shifts and return to the facility where
staff administers drug and alcohol tests and treatment programs. The
program can serve 100 live-in participants and act as a counseling site for
several others.

Like jail, residents would pay for their stay: $35 a day. But unlike
typical jail sentences, the program will offer offenders rehabilitation
while allowing them to work.

"This is not a secure facility at all. They can walk out any day, at any
time, and all we can do is call the probation department at the court," Mr.
Daly said. "People here are going to have to cooperate, they are going to
have to want to be here. If they come here with an attitude, they can go to
jail."

While inmates at the Lenawee County Jail are forced to stuff themselves in
cells built for far fewer prisoners, Mr. Daly's work-release facility
offers rooms accommodating four residents complete with a small bunk, a
closet, and cable television. When not at work or in counseling, residents
are able to make their own food in a full-service kitchen or gather in a
common room.

Upstairs, staff members continued to prep rooms yesterday to provide
meeting space for substance-abuse counselors, domestic-related therapy, and
Alcoholics Anonymous - programs that were cut out of the jail many years
ago because of a lack of space.

And residents will follow the rules of the facility or they will be
expelled, putting their fate back into the hands of the Lenawee County
probation department and the judges who sentenced them, said Sally
Underwood, former commander at the Lenawee County jail and the new
facility' s director.

"There will be a spirit of cooperation, or they won't be here," she said.
"Unlike the jail, residents here won't be spending 24 hours a day figuring
out how to screw with you. They're here because they want to be here."

The project has developed as county commissioners are working to solve
their own problems of an aged and highly overcrowded jail. Built in 1953
and later renovated, the jail is designed to hold 156 prisoners.

For the last several years, however, the jail capacity has averaged 200
inmates, and judges are often asked to approve early releases.

Mr. Daly admits that only time will tell if his program will both prove
successful and relieve jail overcrowding. But he's confident that the
counseling inmates receive while they continue to work will surely help
many straighten out their lives.

"These are mostly individuals who have no structure in their lives, who
have problems with alcohol or substance abuse and need a period of
sobriety. We can provide that," Mr. Daly said.

"Here they're given an opportunity to have a job while staying sober," he
added. "They're given the possibility of getting back on the right track."