For inmate, job hopes sink, debt piles up

Ashley Cameron has the distinction of being the first woman to be approved for the work-release program at Rappahannock Shenandoah Warren Regional Jail — but that doesn't necessarily mean she can work.

Cameron, a former Middle River Regional Jail inmate convicted of embezzlement, was offered a $35,000 year job that would guarantee she could pay her restitution and court fees. She hoped to work off her sentence under home monitoring, she said. It was not to be.

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Ordered back to jail in September, Cameron was offered another job, but lost it when the employer reviewed her work-release paperwork.

"My employer decided to terminate my employment. The decision was made based on the terms and conditions set forth by the work-release program," Cameron wrote to The News Leader from jail.

Although she was a desirable candidate, an employee in work-release requires extra management attention that can burden smaller businesses. Her hiring manager cried when they received the bad news from higher up, Cameron wrote.

No prison system or jail officials were available for comment about her case.

Pay for participation

Inmates like her must pay a day rate to the jail for being in the work-release program whether they have a job or not. The charge at Rappahannock is $16 per day; at Middle River, $13 per day. From day one, Cameron was building debt.

"You cannot go out looking for a job," the young mother wrote. "You must depend on friends and family to find you a job and to bring you job applications."

Eventually Cameron got a work-release job with George's Inc., a poultry slaughtering and processing plant in Edinburg, 36 miles south of the jail. The company transports male inmates to and from the facility, but the work-release program prohibits men and women from riding together, so she had to find her own way there.

"Even though I obtained a job within 12 days of being at (Rappahannock), I was already in debt," she wrote. "By the time I received my first check two weeks later, I owed the jail $352, and my check was only for four days' work."

Cameron, who studied accounting in college, hated the work, but she did it diligently, volunteering for overtime and taking on tasks in other departments.

"I did this for two reasons: because I needed the money — I still have children I was trying to support at home — and I wanted a better job within the plant."

Cameron watched the job postings and applied to every one she qualified for. Within a month, she was interviewed for a traffic clerk position and received a letter of intent offering a salary of $30,000 a year.

The job had a catch, however. She would have to be on call once a month, which she could only do on home monitoring. Despite hiring an attorney to plead her case, her request was declined.

A brief success

Finally Cameron appealed to Rappahannock's work-release sergeant. She had been a model inmate — no write-ups, no reprimands and good work reviews, she wrote. Her home monitoring was pre-approved in March.

"I was so happy," Cameron said. "Once I began home monitoring, I would make $14.50 an hour. It was a good opportunity for someone in my situation. I was very proud of all I had accomplished."

Cameron started her new position in December. Each day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. she served as traffic clerk, and then worked in the plant from 6:40 p.m. to 10:30 pm, averaging 60 hours a week.

"I was paying the jail, toward my restitution, and sending money home to my family," she wrote. "Plus I had health insurance on my children and myself that included dental insurance and eye care, along with a 401(k)."

In January, Cameron was awakened early and told to pack her belongings. She was being taken to prison.

Debt lengthens the sentence

Virginia inmates sentenced to more than 12 months may be held in jail, but they become Department of Corrections prisoners after that period. Because she had been unable to pay her debt during her time at Middle River, a judge tacked an additional three months to her one-year sentence.

"My original sentence was given to me so (that) within my two years of work-release, I would pay 80 percent of the restitution owed," she wrote. But the work release system doesn't allow inmates to earn enough to support their financial obligations, Cameron contends.

With no further work-release possible, "I sit in prison, unable once more to pay on my restitution," Cameron wrote.

She worries about not being able to get ahead while she's inside, and starting over with nothing when her release date comes up in September, she said.