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City officials and council members recently decided the liability involved is not worth the free labor for cutting grass and other landscaping duties.
The city paid workers-compensation insurance premiums and was at risk for costs from any work-related injuries for the inmates, city officials said.
"It's a liability the city should not take anymore," City Manager Scott Dadson said.
Jail director Philip Foot and County Administrator Gary Kubic said Monday they had not heard about the city's decision. But both agreed the program offers more benefits than drawbacks.
"We're here to provide as much guidance and training to give them life skills that they might not have had," Foot said of the inmates. "On one side, they have to work. But you're forcing them to learn something too."
The county and the S.C. Department of Transportation are the only entities now using Beaufort County inmates, Foot said.
Last year, the city's workers compensation insurance premium for inmate labor cost about $880, Dadson said.
No inmate has ever filed a workers compensation claim to city officials' knowledge, said chief financial officer Shirley Hughes.
But the cost lies in the risk, Dadson said. Inmates don't undergo the same pre-employment screening and training as regular employees and must be constantly supervised, he said.
Jan K. Watts, county director of risk management, said inmates are properly trained on any equipment or activity before they work outside the jail.
"They're not just thrown out there and told to cut the grass," he said. "They're trained on whatever equipment they're going to use."
Any entity using inmate labor also must first get certified and undergo training. These efforts help reduce risks, he said.
Usually, the jail has 40 to 60 inmates available for work each day, Foot said. Officials first make sure they have enough inmates for in-house chores, like food preparation and laundry.
Any inmate leaving the jail for work duty must meet specific criteria, pass a criminal history check and go through any required training, Foot said.
Once outside the jail, inmates are supervised at all times while completing tasks ranging from highway cleanup to landscaping to trash collection, he said.
Beaufort County will continue using inmate labor, Kubic said.
"The public at-large supports the program of using inmate labor for minor public services like grass-cutting and trimming," Kubic said. "If we provide adequate and responsible supervision combined with some safety training, we're going to continue using those services."
