WEC deserves a chance to prove it works

When Robin Tysver of the Omaha World-Herald wrote about the Work Ethic Camp in McCook, she didn't sugar-coat her words. In an article in Sunday's World-Herald, she called the camp "not-so-popular" and, "in some ways, a condolence prize for the city of McCook."

Still, the superintendent of the Work Ethic Camp, Raleigh Haas, and other camp supporters were high in their praise of Tysver for the accuracy of the article, saying she portrayed the situation as it is.

How's that? What Tysver pointed out -- after interviewing Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning, Superintendent Haas, State Sen. Tom Baker and others -- is that the work camp is underused.

In the Work Ethic Camp's first full year of operation -- 2002 -- more than 1,800 offenders could have been sent to the camp, but only a few more than 100 actually were.

The numbers have grown this year, but there's still a ways to go to keep the camp at full occupancy. When Tysver accompanied Bruning, Baker and other state senators to the camp last month, there were 66 offenders at the camp. In the weeks since then, the total has grown. "We were up to 73 offenders last week and eight more offenders are due to arrive today," Haas said this morning. With only one offender scheduled to complete his time, that will push the camp's population to near the 80 mark.

Capacity of the camp is 100, and -- in time -- Haas and other camp supporters believe that goal will be achieved on a consistent basis. The key to increased utilization is getting district judges to make greater use of the camp as a sentencing alternative.

Judges need to do so for several reasons. To start with, the Work Ethic Camp is a cheaper program than prison, with cost of incarceration on an annual basis placed at $15,000, compared to $24,000 for prison.

But that's not the big reason. The main value of the Work Ethic Camp is that it offers hope for changing lives -- teaching young offenders better work habits to help them get away from a life of crime.

Long-term proof is not yet available, simply because the camp has not been in existence long enough. But the effort has begun, with members of the criminal justice department at the University of Nebraska-Kearney tracking the lives of offenders following their stays at the Work Ethic Camp.

In years to come, there will be reliable data to show the effectiveness of the Work Ethic Camp program. But, for now, doubting judges are going to have to give the Work Ethic program a chance. The WEC program may not be perfect, but for many young offenders it offers a far better alternative than prison, which -- unfortunately -- has become a revolving door for many criminal offenders.