Jail rumblings

COEUR d'ALENE — Women inmates participating in the work release program at the Kootenai County jail say their rights are being violated because they are being treated differently than their male counterparts.

Two inmates, Sandra Fredrickson and Katrina Brammer, sent a letter to The Press detailing their claim.

"Frankly the treatment to women is unfair and unconstitutional," the letter states. "Please allow the women to make complete use of the facility paid for and provided by the taxpayers of this community for the purpose it was intended for both genders. I mean no disrespect but women are not second class citizens and work sometimes just as hard as men. Women are taxpayers too and allowed the privilege of work release and should be allowed ALL the benefits of the facility provided."

There are a total of 11 inmates currently in the county’s work release program which, according to the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office’s website, is an alternative incarceration program that allows inmates who are "sufficiently trusted and monitored" to leave confinement to continue working at their current place of employment while serving their jail time before and after their shifts.

The nine men enrolled in the program are housed apart from other inmates in the 128-bed Pierce Clegg Work Release Center, and afforded additional privileges such as access to microwaves, the ability to wear personal clothing, and vending machines.

The two women in the program are housed in the jail itself.

The inmates’ letter, which was handwritten by Fredrickson, states they are being housed in a jail pod that is also used to hold inmates that are on restriction and lockdown 23 hours a day. Fredrickson added that they are being housed in the same pod as a woman "who physically assaulted another inmate."

"It is also degrading that, as women, when we come back to the jail from work we are handcuffed and then strip searched every day which does not happen to the men returning from work to the Work Release Building," Fredrickson wrote.

In addition to not being offered the same additional privileges as their male counterparts, Fredrickson wrote that being housed in the jail is affecting their job performance. She wrote that the situation is causing unnecessary stress because the women inmates in the program are released from booking late, giving them only a minimal amount of time to get ready for work in the morning and often making them arrive late at their jobs.

A "good employee," Fredrickson added, should be at work 15 minutes prior to the beginning of a shift and being late, she wrote, is unfair to their employers and teaches unhealthy habits to inmates while making them appear to be irresponsible.

"I am very aware that being allowed work release is as I state previously a 'privilege' that I appreciate and value very much," Fredrickson wrote. "I am seeking a fair resolution to this discrimination without retaliation for bringing this situation to light. I have 2-and-a-half months left to serve and I am simply asking to be properly treated and appropriately housed in the building designed for that purpose."

Fredickson is in serving a sentence she received after being convicted of a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace. Brammer’s sentence stems from a misdemeanor petit theft conviction.

In an email to The Press on Thursday, Kootenai County Sheriff Ben Wolfinger answered a few questions about the situation. When asked why women in the work release program are not housed in the facility built to accommodate inmates in the program, Wolfinger wrote: “We currently do not have enough staff to provide the required supervision at the Work Release Center for both male and female work release inmates.”

He wrote that he and others are concerned about the difference in privileges and accomodations afforded men and women in the work release program at the jail, and the constitutional concerns the situation raises regarding the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

"We currently do not have enough staff to provide the required supervision at the Work Release Center for both male and female work release inmates," Wolfinger wrote. "We are working with staff and the Prosecutor's Civil Division to come up with reasonable alternative solutions that will protect the safety and security of the main jail as well as address the equal opportunities concerns."

This is not the first time constitutional concerns have been raised regarding inmates serving time in the Kootenai County Jail. In December of 2014, a complaint was filed with the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho by a female inmate about to report to the jail to serve a short sentence.

While preparing to do her time, she learned there was a program for men at the jail that allowed them to become inmate workers, but no such program for women. The inmate worker program, according to a previous article in The Press, is offered to "lower custody" inmates and allows them to work cleaning the facility, doing laundry and preparing meals. Individuals who participate in the program receive additional privileges while they are incarcerated.

At the time, Richard Eppink, legal director of the ACLU of Idaho, told The Press: "We communicated with the county and ... alerted them that providing these kinds of privileges to one gender and not the other was a serious constitutional problem.”

A Dec. 22, 2014, phone call between Eppink, a Seattle-based women's rights organization called Legal Voice, and Wolfinger resulted in the program being extended to female inmates within weeks of the complaint being filed.