Work release provides incarcerated inmates opportunities to work outside their place of incarceration. It affords selected inmates to work and participate in community programs to aid in their transition back into the community upon their release. Work-release participants are either directly court ordered into the program or are placed into the program by the sheriff.
Requirements for eligibility vary by jurisdiction. Such requirements may include, among others, a maximum length of sentence and a certain time period before the inmate is to be released, no convictions for sex crimes or a child related crime, no pattern or history of violent crime, no escapes from custody, no outstanding charges, detainers, or out-of-state time.
