In an effort to deal with severe budget challenges, the governor’s office has proposed cutting funding for the Sentence-to-Serve (STS) program that puts nonviolent offenders to work on community projects as an alternative to serving time in long-term correctional facilities. Cook County crew leader Gary Jorgenson spoke with county commissioners on Tuesday, March 9, 2010 asking them to send a letter urging the state to continue funding this program.
Right now, the state and the county share the cost of the program equally. Many local entities have benefitted from the program, including the DNR, the state parks, MnDOT, the Cook County Recycling Center, Public Health and Human Services, the Cook County Historical Society, the Cook County Senior Center, the City of Grand Marais, Lutsen, Tofte, Schroeder, Hovland, and Grand Portage, Cook County Schools, the U.S. Forest Service, and nonprofits such as the John Beargrease Sled Dog Race and North House Folk School.
Sentence-to-Serve crews do many types of work, from pouring concrete, hanging sheetrock, and replacing bridges to cleaning up after ice storms, removing beaver dams, and assisting with prescribed burns.
Koochiching County crew leader Keith Knaeble has written a letter to his legislators urging them to advocate for the program. “Without the program there are many projects within our area and for the state that could not be done,” he wrote. “The STS program provides work that no one else wants to do or that our county, city, and/ or state agencies cannot afford to contract out.
“…STS has always been and continues to be one of the most positive programs in our state and in our counties. The program has restorative justice as a goal. …[It] allows offenders to make amends to the community by performing public service work.”
STS has a lot of monetary value. It saves the cost of incarcerating nonviolent offenders in long-term facilities and provides labor at very low cost. Jorgenson wrote a letter advocating for the STS program as well. “Eliminating the STS program will not only impact the county and its surrounding communities,” he wrote, “it will also have a large impact on [the] state because of the various projects that we do.”
Knaeble wrote, “You would have the potential to actually spend more money than you saved by cutting the STS subsidy. STS is a problem solver and a money saver. …[It] is a win-win situation for the state, the county, our citizens, and our offenders.”
“You can’t possibly cut this program and save the state money,” Commissioner Fritz Sobanja said in response to Jorgenson’s presentation to the county board.
“It’s going to affect the state more than they realize, I think,” Jorgenson said.
The board passed a motion authorizing Board Chair Sobanja to send a letter to the state in support of continued funding of the program.
Jorgenson has worked with the Sentence-to-Serve program for 19 of its 24 years in Cook County.
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