1. Any person sentenced to a county jail in a county of the first class or second class or to the city jail or workhouse of any city with a population of five hundred thousand or more for crime, nonpayment of a fine or forfeiture, or contempt of court may be granted the privilege of leaving the jail during necessary and reasonable hours for any of the following purposes:

(1) Working at his employment; or

Ask a legal question, get an answer ASAP!
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

(2) Conducting his own business or other self-employed occupation, and in the case of a woman for the purpose of housekeeping and attending the needs of her family; or

(3) Attendance at an educational institution; or

(4) Obtaining medical treatment; or

(5) Visiting prospective employers at prearranged interviews.

2. Unless the privilege is expressly granted by the sentencing court, the prisoner is sentenced to ordinary confinement. The prisoner may petition the sentencing court for the privilege at the time of sentence or thereafter, and in the discretion of the sentencing court may renew his petition. The sentencing court may withdraw the privilege at any time by order entered with or without notice.

3. The sheriff of the county or the warden of the city, whichever the case may be, shall endeavor to secure employment for unemployed prisoners sentenced under this section. If a prisoner is employed for wages or salary the sheriff of the county or the warden of the city, whichever the case may be, shall collect the same or require the prisoner to turn over his wages or salary in full when received, and the sheriff of the county or the warden of the city, whichever the case may be, shall deposit the same in a trust checking account and shall keep a ledger showing the status of the account of each prisoner. The wages or salary are not subject to garnishment in the hands of either the employer or the sheriff of the county or the warden of the city, whichever the case may be, during the prisoner’s term, and shall be disbursed as provided in this section; but for tax purposes they are income of the prisoner.

4. Every prisoner gainfully employed under this section is liable for the cost of his board. If necessarily absent from jail at a meal time he shall upon request be furnished with an adequate nourishing lunch to carry to work. The sheriff shall charge his account, if he has one, for the board. If the prisoner is gainfully self-employed he shall pay the sheriff for the board, in default of which his privilege under this section is automatically forfeited.

5. By order of the sentencing court, the wages of employed prisoners shall be disbursed by the sheriff for the following purposes:

(1) The board of the prisoner;

(2) Necessary travel expenses to and from work and other incidental expenses of the prisoner;

(3) Support of the prisoner’s dependents, if any;

(4) Payment, either in full or ratably, of the prisoner’s obligations acknowledged by him in writing or which have been reduced to judgment;

(5) The balance, if any, to the prisoner upon his discharge.

6. The court may by order authorize the sheriff to whom the prisoner is committed to arrange with another sheriff for the employment of the prisoner in the other’s county, and while so employed to be and continue subject to the commitment.

7. The county commission or governing body may, if the sheriff of the county or the warden of the city, whichever the case may be, requests it, by resolution direct that all functions of the sheriff of the county or the warden of the city, whichever the case may be, under subsection 3 or 5 or both be performed by the county or city welfare office; or, if the county commission or governing body has not so directed, the sentencing court may order that the prisoner’s earnings be collected and disbursed by the clerk of the sentencing court. The order shall remain in force until rescinded by the county commission or governing body or the sentencing court, whichever made it.

8. The county welfare office shall at the request of the sentencing court investigate and report to the sentencing court the amount necessary for the support of the prisoner’s dependents.

9. The sheriff may refuse to permit the prisoner to exercise his privilege to leave the jail as provided in this section for not to exceed five consecutive days for any breach of discipline or other violation of jail regulations.

10. Any prisoner granted privileges pursuant to this section who serves three-fourths of the time for which he may have been sentenced in an orderly and peaceable manner shall be discharged in the same manner as if the prisoner had served the full time for which sentenced.

11. In the case of a violation of the law or jail regulations, the prisoner shall be returned to the sentencing court; and it may require that the balance of his sentence be spent in actual confinement and may cancel any earned diminution of his term.

12. Any county may suspend the operation of this section by resolution or ordinance when proper facilities are not available.

13. The county commissions of all other counties of the state shall have the power to provide for the employment, under such rules and regulations and under such terms as they may prescribe, of all persons convicted of an offense under the statutes of this state, and who may be sentenced to imprisonment in the county jail, or who may be committed to the county jail for nonpayment of fine; and the amount so received for the services of such person so hired shall be applied upon the judgment against him.