County Jail Inmates Can Buy Bus Tickets For Use At Release

By Tammy Gray-Searles
   In an effort to reduce hitchhiking and walking along State Route 77 between the county complex and Holbrook, a collaboration between White Mountain Regional Connection transit service and the Navajo County Jail now allows inmates to purchase bus tickets prior to their release from jail.
   Officials from the bus line, which travels between Holbrook and Pinetop-Lakeside, contacted Navajo County Assistant Manager Dusty Parsons, noting that individuals who had just been released from jail were interested in riding the bus, but had difficulty doing so because the jail issues a check, and the bus requires a ticket or cash.
   The sheriff’s office, Parsons and White Mountain Regional Connection officials worked together to come up with a plan that would allow inmates to purchase tickets while still incarcerated that could be used any time after their release. Jail Commander Matthew Searles explained that the program solves several issues, including that of released individuals hitchhiking on the highway.
   The jail purchases the tickets from White Mountain Regional Connection and then sells them to inmates at the same price.
   “The tickets are sold at the price that we purchase them,” Searles said. “They’re not for a specific date, they don’t expire.”
   The tickets are an all-day pass that allows individuals to travel either into Holbrook and then on to Snowflake, Taylor, Show Low or Pinetop/Lakeside, or directly to their destination.
   Searles noted that as a rule, the jail does not purchase and resell items for inmates, but in this case it seemed to make sense, especially with the jail located away from businesses where released individuals could cash their checks.
   “This was a special circumstance,” he noted. “It benefits the public.”
   Inmates can use money put in their jail accounts to purchase the tickets at any time, and then receive the bus tickets along with their check when they book out. According to Searles, the jail is making every effort to book individuals out of jail in conjunction with the bus schedule.
   Family members can assist inmates in purchasing a ticket by adding money to the inmate’s account.
   “Through the commissary program, inmates with sufficient funds on their account can purchase a bus ticket prior to booking out,” he remarked.
   The program started on Dec. 14, and the first ticket was purchased that day. Searles noted that he is hopeful that the program will assist inmates who don’t have rides available.
   “The released individuals are not loitering around the complex, begging for money for the bus or for rides, and they’re not having to hitchhike,” he said. “In the wintertime, they don’t have to walk into town. They have the ability to purchase a bus ticket rather than brave the weather.”