Some work release programs allow greater freedom for the prisoner, allowing prisoners who follow a Monday–Friday workweek to attend work and live at their homes on those days, and serve their sentences two days at a time on weekends.
Depending on the terms of the program, the prisoner may serve their sentence in a halfway house or home confinement while not working.
Work release programs have also been shown to lower the recidivism rates among prisons.
Inmates who are sentenced to participate in work release programs are obligated to pay a fee of $22 per day.
[3] The concept of work release was introduced in Wisconsin in 1913 under a law written by state senator Henry Huber.