Inmates on the Outside

Normally on a warm fall afternoon, you would find William Payne at his favorite fishing spot near Belmont, North Carolina.
But he hasn't been back there often after what happened to him and his family in July.

He and his 7-year old granddaughter were at the water’s edge, preparing their poles, when the girl voiced a warning.
“She hollered, ‘there’s a man!’, and that’s when he came up behind me and stuck a gun in my neck,” said Payne, 71.

Payne said the man demanded his wallet – then demanded a ride.

“He made me call my daughter and tell her to come pick us up,” said Payne. “He threatened to shoot my granddaughter if I didn’t.”

When his daughter arrived with her car – and her 7-month old son in the backseat – it was the beginning of what would become a long, strange journey. The kidnapper, who police later identified as Jerry Douglass Case, ordered the family into the car, then climbed into the backseat where he sat next to the children.

“He was pointing his gun at the kids and waving it around," said Payne.

Payne said for the next 14 hours, Case ordered his daughter to drive them from place to place, crossing the state line into South Carolina and then reentering North Carolina several times, stopping only to get gas.

“He was coming down off of heroin and I think he was looking for a place to hide,” said Payne.

The ordeal finally ended at a convenience store in Gaffney. Payne’s family managed to drive away and call for help while Case was distracted. When Cherokee County deputies arrived to arrest the kidnapper, Case fired at them, grazing a deputy’s leg. Deputies then shot Case several times. (In October, Case pleaded guilty in Federal Court to four counts of kidnapping and armed robbery. He is still awaiting trial on a state charge of assault and battery with intent to kill.)

A MAN WITH A PAST

Shortly after the ordeal ended, Payne says he was not surprised to learn that Case was an ex-con. He was, however, surprised to learn what he had been in prison for.

In 1985, Case kidnapped a cab driver in Knoxville, TN, and forced him to drive to North Carolina, where he tied him up in a motel room and stabbed him to death. He was convicted by a jury and sent to death row, but the sentence was later overturned on appeal and Case was given a life sentence. He became eligible for parole in 2008 and was transferred to Gaston Correctional, a minimum security facility near Gastonia, NC.

Payne says during the kidnapping saga, Case talked about his time at Gaston Correctional, especially about his friendship with another inmate by the name of Tracy Burris who was serving time for a series of burglaries.

Burris would later become known as “The Gaffney Serial Killer”. During one horrible week in the summer of 2009, Burris, recently released from prison, shot to death five innocent people in Gaffney, SC, and was later shot to death by police in Gastonia. Payne says Case was envious of the way his friend died.

"He said he wanted to die like Burris, and I said well, if you keep doing what you’re doing, you're gonna get your wish," said Payne.

A KILLER ON WORK RELEASE
While nearing the ends of their prison sentences at Gaston Correctional, Case and Burris were approved to take part in work release, a program used by most states’ to prepare qualified inmates for their reintegration into society. Inmates are hired by local businesses on a part-time basis.

The Department of Corrections provides with transportation to and from their job sites. They leave prison in the morning and return at the end of the work day. Case and Burris worked for a company named Ultra Machine and Fabrication which has plants in Shelby and Kings Mountain.

In South Carolina, violent offenders (those who have committed the most serious crimes) are not allowed to participate in work release. The General Assembly passed legislation prohibiting such in the mid-90’s after an inmate committed a violent crime while on his work release job.

That’s not the case in North Carolina. If the parole commission has deemed an inmate eligible for parole, then he is also eligible to qualify for work release.

“That inmate is going home one day,” says Geraldine Conner, work release program director at Gaston Correctional. “What would be worse? To not help him transition back into the community, or to help him transition back into the community? Send him out prepared to where he'll be a good citizen when he goes out, or just open the gate?"

But for how long will parolees be "good citizens"? Just two months after Burris's release, authorities say he slaughtered five people, stealing from them to feed his drug habit. Case lasted a little longer, kidnapping Payne’s family a year after his release.

Corrections officials say the post-prison behavior of Case and Burris is the exception, not the norm. They point out that recidivism rates are lower for both violent and non-violent offenders who participate in work release. Click here to see recidivism data for work release inmates in South Carolina. In fact, SC Department of Corrections believes the state would be better off if it went back to allowing violent criminals to take part in the program.

“Violent offenders who were previously allowed to participate in work release came back to prison less than those today who are not allowed to participate,” said Josh Gelinas, communications director for SC DOC. “We believe that allowing some but not all violent offenders to (be in work release) before finishing their sentence would make the public more safe.”

Conner says work release reconditions inmates to become a productive member of society.

“We teach them a vocational skill that will help them provide for themselves and their families, to keep them from having to steal or break the law,” said Conner.

A BONUS FOR BUSINESSES AND TAXPAYERS?
Conner says companies that hire inmates see the benefits of the program. They have to pay inmates at least minimum wage but can usually hire them for less than what regular workers are making. In North Carolina, businesses get a tax break of $1,000 per inmate. Click here to see SC & NC laws regarding work release. Conner says companies also get a reliable employee who is guaranteed to show up.

"Our guys are there everyday,” says Conner. “They never want to miss a day's work. They're eager to prove themselves.”
However, inmates have been known to walk off the job. South Carolina DOC records show ten cases in the last three years in which work release inmates have “escaped” while at work. In all of the cases, the inmates were recaptured and none committed a crime while on the lam.

Neither South or North Carolina would release the names of companies that hire inmates. Officials said company names are not subject to Freedom of Information Act requests because the companies do not sign contracts with the state – but rather with individual inmates. WSPA is still researching the legal basis of their refusal to determine if it has merit.

Conner did name a few types of businesses that hire inmates: machine shops, welders, sewing plants, and auto mechanics. She says the state generally tries to avoid jobs that would put inmates in high contact with the public.

“We don’t do that much fast food, things of that nature,” said Conner. “It’s less of an opportunity for (inmates) to receive any kind of contraband.”

But thanks to the aforementioned inmate walk-offs, we know South Carolina allows inmates to work in restaurants. Last year, an inmate “escaped” from his work release job at Ruby Tuesday in Florence. This year, one absconded from KFC in Irmo. Escapes have also been reported at Columbia Farms poultry plant in Greenville.

Corrections officials say taxpayers also benefit from work release. A portion of the inmates' earnings go back to Department of Corrections to pay for room and board and transportation. Money is also taken out to pay child support, alimony and restitution – if the inmate owes it. The remainder goes into an account for the inmate and is paid to him upon release. Conner says this reconditions inmates to the reality of living on a budget, preparing them for their return to the community.

"If we don't prepare them prior to release, they're not gonna be that good neighbor that I hope they're gonna go out and be," said Conner.

NOT CONVINCED

William Payne agrees that work release is probably a good thing for petty criminals. But he thinks states should not allow it for violent offenders.

"They break the law that bad that one time, they're gonna do it again and again and again until they kill somebody,” said Payne. “Sooner or later they're gonna kill somebody."

And he says you would feel the same way if a convict, recently turned out of prison, turned your family into prisoners.

“I don’t think they ought to be released. I don’t care if they have to build a million jails, they don’t need to be out on the street.”

The document below compares recidivism rates for violent offenders against non-violent offenders. When S.C. still allowed violent offenders into the program. Recidivism was lower for violent offenders in the program.

This second, more recent document looks at all of South Carolinas's recidivism rates, and shows that work release participants come back to prison less than almost every other category of inmate.

Recidivism Rates of Inmates Released During 1998-2003