Work-Furlough Program Under Threat From Sheriff’s Jail Proposal : Corrections: Larry Carpenter says the endeavor is too large. He wants to move the inmates to Todd Road facility, but probation officials object.

One of the most important issues facing probation officials in Ventura County is whether a minimum-security jail at the Camarillo Airport will be stripped from their control.

The jail houses county work-furlough inmates, 230 or so prisoners who go off to jobs by day and are locked in by night. At 360 beds, it is the largest work-furlough site in California.

The jail is important because it allows more than 1,500 inmates to continue working and supporting their families while serving sentences, probation officials say. Otherwise, those inmates would lose jobs and, without the income, their families might be forced onto welfare rolls, they say.

But Sheriff Larry Carpenter, who has proposed moving the inmates to his new Todd Road Jail, argues that the work-furlough program is too large.

The sheriff said his proposal would allow space at Camarillo to be used for delinquents now crammed inside the overcrowded Juvenile Hall. The Board of Supervisors expects recommendations from several different agencies and councils by October.

The fight over work furlough has caused a major rift between leaders of the probation department and the sheriff’s office.

Some probation officials are put off by what they say is Carpenter’s sudden interest in work furlough. Before the sheriff had an empty jail to fill, he was not so critical of work furlough, they say.

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In a brief interview, Carpenter said his concern is public safety. Some work-furlough inmates would be better off behind bars all day than out in the community, he maintained.

“I would suggest that there may be an overuse of work-furlough space by people who are marginally qualified,” he said.

Probation officials said they accept only nonviolent offenders.

“This program has been going on for 19 years, and you can count on one hand the number of incidents” caused by inmates on work furlough, said supervising Deputy Probation Officer Tom McCarthy. “To me, they come here as punishment, not for punishment. If the person is dangerous and the sheriff believes he should not be here, then why isn’t that person in prison?”

Work-furlough manager Donald C. Krause said the program serves two purposes: Inmates can support their families and the “system can get its pound of flesh.”

The Sheriff’s Department started work furlough in 1973. Three years later, it was turned over to probation officials because inmates were under court supervision anyway. Over the years, enrollment has climbed from about two dozen inmates to an average daily population of 232.

The 1,507 inmates housed in Camarillo last year produced nearly $1.4 million in revenue, or three-fourths of the total cost of the program, said Frank C. Woodson, director of the Corrections Services Agency, which handles probation in the county. If work furlough is turned over to the sheriff, probation officials say, that revenue would fall.

Ellen Gilmore, a supervising deputy probation officer, said convicted criminals have to be recommended to the program by county judges even to be considered. And half of those are rejected, she said. The main disqualifying factors are extensive or violent criminal records.

Inmates live and sleep in two stark, barracks-like buildings. There are no televisions or other luxuries in the rooms. After they leave for work each morning, inmates are tracked by nine corrections officers who conduct spot checks.