By CHRIS MEYERS
Staff writer

Making the transition from life behind bars to a life of freedom can be a tough transition.
For some, the change can be so overwhelming that they re-offend just to get back to the life they know in a 10’ x 10’ cell.
But for inmates in Whitley County, officials have a program in place to offer a way to ease back into society in the form of the Whitley County Work Release Center.
“Our hope here is that they can transfer down to a lesser form of supervision,” Vicki Burney, director of the work release center, said Wednesday during a walkthrough of the facility.
That lesser form of supervision after successfully completing a sentence at the work release center is often probation or home detention.
As the name implies, enrollees in the work release program have to have a job to be eligible.
Former Whitley County Sheriff Mike Schrader, who also serves on the board for the work release center, said being able to go to work while serving a jail sentence can help inmates get better assimilated to society rather than just being cut loose from jail.
“People think, ‘OK, now I’m out. Where do I go from here?’” he said of those released from jail without a job or place to live.
One recent addition to the work release center was the addition of an area for female participants. The area is separated from the male living quarters by a keypad coded door ensuring no interaction between the female and male residents.
Burney, who has a history of service in the area of community corrections, said she is not aware of any facilities that allow male and female participants to mingle at the facility.
If male and female participants work at the same location and choose to have a relationship outside of the work release center, they can feel free to do so, but Burney said the relationship ends when they walk back through the work release doors.
But getting the now one-and-a-half-year-old program to where it is today was no simple task, with a committee having spent months examining possible locations for the facility.
“We looked at numerous places. From churches to vacant businesses to community centers,” Tom Rethlake, county commissioner, said Wednesday.
Eventually, and after several offers and counter-offers, the county found a home for the program at the Super 8 motel, which offered a sale price of $750,000.
“With that money, we bought everything in this building,” which included all furniture, linens and equipment used at the motel, Rethlake said, adding that there will be room for growth.
The rooms have four twin beds in them, with some “privileged” rooms having two full-sized beds for participants who have been on the program long enough without any violations.
And although there are occasional violations, ranging from moderate to major, which can mean either a loss of freedom at the center or complete termination of participation in the program, the number of those who successfully complete the program are higher than the failures.
Those terminated from the program earn a one-way ticket back to the “Hodges Motel” at 101 W. Market St.
Of the 61 people terminated from the program since it started, nearly all have been for being fired from their place of employment and not being able to find another job in time to stay on work release.
Staff at the center offer guidance to those trying to find a job, but sometimes the efforts prove futile.
One of the most proud aspects of the terminations from the program for staff has been that very few have been for alcohol violations and none for drugs.
“We have not found any drugs at the facility,” Burney said, adding that searches of rooms can be conducted at any point without notice.
For those who stay employed and follow the rules, they have many programs and services available to them at the center to help them stay on the right path.
Those options will be explored in Friday’s edition of The Post & Mail.