By JIM HOOK
Public Opinion
FRANKLIN COUNTY, Pa. — You can qualify for a weekend getaway at the Franklin County Jail by drinking and driving.
For a guilty plea and $30 a weekend, you can do your time in a dormitory-style setting. If you opt for a trial and are convicted, you’re likely to spend 30 consecutive days in a jail cell and risk losing your job.
The method of incarceration, new to Franklin County, could save a few tax dollars. County criminal justice leaders figure that jail beds can be used more efficiently and the courts can process minor criminal cases faster.
“We’re going to start out focusing on DUI offenders, but that’s not to say we won’t expand it down the road,” Warden John Wetzel said.
The jail-on-weekends program would apply to people serving jail sentences of 30 days or less.
A person sentenced to 30 days in jail would serve their 30 days over 15 weekends -- from 7 p.m. Friday to 7 p.m. Sunday.
“It’s ironic. Instead of going to the local club, they’re coming here,” Wetzel said.
Weekenders will be housed in work-release areas similar to military barracks. They will follow jail rules. They will bring their own medications, so the county will not pay for them. They will be charged a $30 fee each weekend for drug testing, meals and toiletry items.
“If you show up late, you’re not going to leave Sunday,” Wetzel said. “You can explain it to the judge on Monday why you were late. If you don’t show up, you’ll be charged with escape.”
“You have to enter a plea at mandatory arraignment,” Franklin County John Nelson said. “If you don’t do it then, it’s not available.”
The early plea will reduce caseload and costs for the county court and prosecutor.
The program will be expanded to place offenders in community service to nonprofit agencies and local governments, Wetzel said.
“If you’re a 30-day offender, you’re a low-risk inmate,” he said. “DUI offenders, particularly first time offenders, are likely to be employed. They will have a better chance to stay employed.”
Sixteen people are currently serving jail sentences of less than 30 days. If they were serving weekends, the jail would have 16 additional beds in secured cells to lease.
The county has promised 35 beds for males and 15 beds for females to federal authorities, Wetzel said. The jail also leases about 20 beds to Fulton County.
Wetzel said he is exploring opportunities to rent cell beds to other groups.
The jail billed nearly $670,000 last year for leased beds -- $450,195 to Fulton County and $219,300 to the U.S. Marshal’s Service.
Copyright 2009 Public Opinion