VALDOSTA – Punching a clock every day for a modest paycheck is not nearly as lucrative as dealing drugs.

Staying on the straight and narrow is not always easy when weighing the big money to be had in a life of crime against the risk of landing back in prison. 

“I had an individual released from prison who had been used to dealing drugs. They thought getting a job and clocking in from 8-5 was ridiculous,” said Officer Sharde Pollard with the Georgia Department of Community Supervision.

After convincing the man to come in once a week every Friday to fill out job search forms, he got a job on the fourth week. 

Pollard said the man was discouraged not making as much money as he had selling drugs, but she kept encouraging him. She showed him the benefits of legal employment including not having to look over his shoulder in fear or the possibility of going back to prison. 

He’s holding down the job. The probationer even got a promotion.

“It’s a great and rewarding feeling as an officer. A lot of times, people will look at us as the bad guy and that we do things to harm people,” Pollard said. “It’s always a rewarding and fulfilling moment when you know that you’ve gone the extra mile to help someone and in turn that person can turn back and reach someone else.”

Probation is a second chance, said Sam Dennis, a Valdosta defense attorney. 

“The idea is that you don’t have to go to prison,” Dennis said. “You can pay your debt to society, maybe change the trajectory of someone’s life.” 

For some, the system can work.

Thomasville resident Kyle Bass considered it a privilege to be on probation. 

“You could be in prison,” Bass said.

He should know. Bass has been to prison a number of times.

“Probation is a probated prison sentence,” he said.

Bass’ probated sentences were on drug-related offenses. While on probation, a person remains in state custody and could go back to prison, he said.

Bass was 13 when he was sentenced to probation the first time.

“Before I got off probation, I would commit another crime and lengthen the probation,” he said.

Probation in the SunLight Project coverage area of Valdosta, Dalton, Thomasville, Milledgeville, Moultrie and Tifton, Ga., and Live Oak, Fla., offers criminal defendants the possibility of starting over. But probation may also be a catchall to ensure guilty pleas and court fees while not overcrowding jails and prisons.

Probation can come with various conditions set by judges depending on the level of supervision required and whether it is felony probation or misdemeanor probation. Conditions usually call for a person to pay court fines, pay restitution, maintain a job, submit to drug tests, live at the address given to their probation officer and in some cases have curfews.

Supervision fees are paid to the probation offices. Misdemeanor probation fees are generally $49 per month and are only paid the first three months of probation. Felony probationers pay $30 per month for the duration of their probation.

When Bass was on probation, he rarely passed a drug test and usually violated probation by being arrested again.

Bass, 40, and his wife of 20 years, have four children ages 4 to 20.

Bass said he is free of the meth and cocaine that plagued his life and put him in prison four times.

It is a sobering realization, Bass said, knowing while on probation, a violation could have put him back behind bars.

He said people in trouble with the law think law enforcement and probation officers “keep people from doing what they want to.” But when a person decides to go straight, they are the best resources for help, Bass said.

Judge Rob Cowan of the Dalton Municipal Court said he sees how useful probation can be. 

“We want to provide an opportunity for rehabilitation,” he said. “Probation gives us a way to address the issues they may be facing, to give them some punishment, but at the same time to allow them to keep a job if they have one, to have the support and structure of their family.” 

In cases of drug offenses, the court will order treatment and therapy if it is recommended.

There are practical reasons why probation is an integral part of the criminal justice system.

If not for probation, the money needed to build enough prisons to hold all criminal offenders would likely break state governments.

Probation also allows prosecutors, with the approval of the judge, to prevent first-time nonviolent offenders from going to prison. So instead of being housed at taxpayers’ expense, they have the opportunity to work while paying off costs associated with probation.

It costs about $50 a day to house someone in jail, said Paige Dukes, Lowndes County clerk and public information officer, citing Sheriff Ashley Paulk. 

“How much time can the taxpayers afford?” Dukes said. “You’re never going to be able to charge someone enough of a fine just to pay for the time to keep them in jail.

“Everyone makes a bad decision every now and then, let’s do what we need to do under the law,” Dukes said, “but how do we keep these people out of jail, and I think that that whole perspective is important.”

Lowndes County recently assumed misdemeanor probation duties from a third-party probation service. Dukes said there are almost 3,000 preliminary cases for the county.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys often work out plea arrangements that keep defendants out of prison. The agreements are usually accepted by the judge in the case because the attorneys know more about the details of the case, said David Miller, an assistant Southern district attorney and former Southern district attorney.

“Prosecutors and judges are selective on who they want to send to prison,” he said. “Fifty-thousand (statewide prison) beds sounds like a lot but it really isn’t.”

James Hill, public information officer for the Georgia Department of Community Supervision, said there are 2,545 active felony supervision cases in the Southern District which includes Lowndes, Thomas, Colquitt, Brooks and Echols. 

There are 34 officers assigned to handle these cases.

In some instances, probation is used along with prison time in sentencing defendants. A person who pleads guilty to burglary, for instance, may get a 10-year sentence, with three to serve behind bars and seven on probation.

Probation-only sentences are generally for low-risk offenders, Miller said.

Ultimately, Miller said, probation gives flexibility to the system. An offender who has a part of the sentence paying restitution to the victim can’t do that while locked in a cell.

In a normal trial calendar in Colquitt County Superior Court, all of a hundred or so cases may be disposed by plea arrangements that include probation, or there may be only one or two trials.

If all of the cases went to trial, the time and expense would be astronomical, Miller said.

However, this is where a problem can be found with probation. 

“It provides an option that can be used to secure guilty pleas,” defense attorney Dennis said.

“When you marry an ambitious probation system with minimum mandatory sentencing statutes what you end up with is a leverage over people that actually undermines their right to a trial by jury,” he said.

If a defendant goes to trial and is found guilty, he faces a minimum mandatory prison sentence for the crime. So instead, many defendants opt to plead guilty to lesser charges that include probation as punishment.

“I love getting probation for my clients – sometimes; it certainly beats going to prison,” Dennis said. “It (probation) is used as a carrot to the defendant but the state often times uses it as a stick.”

Dennis isn’t against probation entirely but reiterates it in can lead people to enter guilty pleas who would probably be better served by exercising their right to a trial by jury. He said he thinks most probation officers do tremendous jobs.

“I’ve seen young people be on probation and get lots of good advice at times when they needed it from probation officers that had been helpful and gave them the encouragement they needed to make better choices,” Dennis said.

Ocmulgee District Attorney Stephen A. Bradley said he believes state probation officers do “an excellent job” and try “very hard” to sort out the people who are trying to do better versus those who are trying hard not to get caught.

When asked if he felt probation officers are overburdened or strapped with heavy caseloads, Bradley said he wasn’t sure.

“I think our probation supervisors are able to do OK,” Bradley said.

Having spent most of his life on probation, the system has seemed to have finally worked for Kyle Bass.

Bass has “switched teams” and works with Larry Nunnally as director of Rescue Home for Men. Men leaving jail go to Rescue for Men if they need a place to stay and want to accept responsibility for their family, get a job and pay taxes.

In addition to duties at the rescue facility, Bass is owner of Kyle Bass Construction.

It has not been easy for Bass. In addition to trying to stay clean and out of prison, no one wanted to hire Bass because of his criminal background.

He was persistent and kept returning.

“A lot of times they would hire me,” he recalled.

Staying clean was Bass’ biggest challenge — until he found God. 

His life is different now.