Good Question: What Happens At The County Workhouse?
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - On Tuesday, a judge sentenced two former owners of a Lake Elmo electrical company to the Hennepin County workhouse. The men pleaded guilty to theft by swindle for underpaying their employees hundreds of thousands of dollars.
So, that had Bruce from Sauk Centre wanting to know: What happens at the workhouse?
"We have an array of services that try to help them as they transition have to the community because our average stays here are about 15 days for women and 35 days for men," said Ron Bergee, assistant superintendent with the Ramsey County Correctional Facility. "That's a short period of time."
What most people, including judges, lawyers and inmates, know as the Ramsey County Workhouse is actually called the Ramsey County Correctional Facility. It's located on Century Avenue, on the border of Maplewood and Woodbury ,and sits next to a county nine-hole golf course. There are two separate areas for men and women.
For years, the facility was a working farm with cattle and hogs where inmates would grow their own crops. But as the neighborhood grew around them, a nursery replaced the farm and the corrections facility became a place that focused on programming, productivity and learning job skills.
"Working on a farm isn't a transferrable skill in the metro area," said Bergee.
Everyone who is physically able to do so is assigned some type of job. Those jobs range from housekeeping to painting to laundry services to the kitchen. No inmates are paid for their work at the Ramsey County Correctional Facility.
Some inmates maintain the golf course next door where they, under the supervision of an officer, take care of all aspects of the grounds. Others work in the nursery, where they can partake in a horticulture program certified through Century College. Each spring, they hold a huge flower and plant sale with the proceeds partly going back to the program. The facility also offers a culinary skills program, certified through Century College as well.
"That puts them in a position to go out with an actual certification that would give them a very good chance of getting hired in the metro food industry," said Burgee.
People can end up at the workhouse if their sentence is one year or less. A year and day sends them to prison. Offenses generally include multiple DWIs, traffic offenses, domestic violence or drug offenses.
While most counties outside of the metro area combine their jail and workhouses, Ramsey County maintains two separate facilities.
"The jail is where you're arrested, detained and arraigned, waiting to go to court," Burgee said. "This is all a post-sentence facility."
At Ramsey County's facility, there's a focus on responding to inmates' needs through mental health services, chemical dependency help, GED courses and a number of different classes, including ones on how to think differently.
"Your punishment is being sentenced and losing your freedom for this period of incarceration or time away," Burgee said. "While you're here, our focus is completely on what we can do to put you in a better place than when you came."
