Can a Pretrial Inmate Awaiting Sentencing Get Work Release?

Unlikely, for two reasons. First, not every county jail offers a work release program at all. It is a resource that requires staffing, oversight, and coordination with employers, and many smaller county facilities simply do not have it in place.

Second, even at jails that do have work release, pretrial and pre-sentencing inmates are almost always excluded from participation. The concern is straightforward: someone who has not yet been sentenced and who has an unresolved case has more incentive to walk away from a community work assignment than someone who is already sentenced and knows exactly what they are working toward. Facilities are not willing to take that risk with an inmate whose final designation has not been determined yet.

Work release is generally a privilege reserved for sentenced inmates who are in the final stretch of their sentence and have demonstrated they can be trusted with increased freedom. His best path to that kind of opportunity is getting through sentencing, landing at a facility with a work release program, and building the conduct record that earns him a spot in it.