CHESHIRE — Over the past few months, the Gallia County Sheriff’s Office has held meetings with both Cheshire residents and family members of Gallco Industry clients to discuss utilizing the old Guiding Hand School building as a work release center.

According to Sheriff Joe Browning, the work release center would give the courts another option in sentencing non-violent offenders, while saving the current limited jail space for the more serious and violent offenders.

Despite having a 22 bed facility, the jail is only certified to house 11 inmates, said Browning. As of last count, there were 36 inmates.

The cost of transferring inmates to other facilities due to overcrowding and the medical costs alone are steep, Browning said during the meeting held Tuesday, Jan. 26. The work release center is another option.

According to financial records, the sheriff’s office spent $197,857 on jail related expenses in 2009. Out of county housing costs, when the sheriff’s office must house a prisoner in another county usually due to overcrowding, totaled $81,224. The second highest expenditure was food at $78,175. Medical expenses cost the county $22,472 and prescriptions cost $3,824. The county is required to cover the medical expenses and medications of prisoners.

Browning said he was looking at the old Guiding Hand building for various reasons, including a kitchen which would allow them to prepare meals for the jail and the gymnasium to allow for a dorm-like setup of the center’s sleeping area. The sheriff also said the county would be willing to prepare meals for Gallco, which currently does not serve hot lunches.

Due to cost and lack of funding, Browning said a new jail was not an option.

Gallipolis Municipal Judge Margaret Evans said, while she is not advocating for a specific site, a work release center in the county would definitely give her court more sentencing options.

Evans said offenders who are given the option to enter the program would be non-violent offenders who may just need some structure and supervision to turn their lives around.

“If they know they have to report to someone, they may make a different decision,” said Evans.

Though every case is handled on an individual basis, should an offender decide not to complete the program, jail would most likely be the next step.

“If they choose not to complete the program, then it would leave me few options,” said Evans.

The sheriff’s office will model the Gallia County center on other work release centers in Ohio, like Muskingam County. Defendants in Muskingam county are held to a strict set of rules, must perform weekly drug screenings and are only permitted to leave the facility during their work hours.

Browning hopes to add several area services, like drug treatment, in the hopes that defendants will eventually break the cycle and return to society as productive citizens.

In addition to 24-hour staffing by deputies or certified correction officers, the center will be heavily monitored electronically.

“We’re going to try to use as much technology as possible,” said Browning.

The sheriff also plans on using the additional rooms in the facility as training areas for new officers.

While many of the people who attended the meeting last Tuesday agreed the work release program was beneficial to the county, they did not think it belonged next door to a work site for adults with special needs. Browning was unable to offer the parents any concrete answers regarding how much visual contact the offenders would have with clients as the project is still in the planning phase.

“We’d prefer you put it somewhere else,” said Randy Adkins, who supported the idea, just not the location.

Both the Gallia County Board of Developmental Disabilities and Browning said no contracts have been signed, but they are still looking at the facility as a possibility. According to Superintendent Rosalie Durbin, the sharing of grounds between the two facilities should be temporary.

“We are working to move the adult program more centrally located,” said Durbin.

Browning told family members, should the center go forward, his office would work closely with the community, family members and the DD board to ensure the safety of Gallco clients.