The City of Natchez might not have trusties, but they have something the county doesn’t — a work release program.

The program, run out of municipal court, allows some of those who owe fines to work off their debt.

“If they reach an agreement, they’re paid minimum wage for the hours they work and are assigned to a department in the city to work off their fine,” Municipal Judge Jim Blough said.

If they come to court right away and request the service, those in debt will often sleep at home and come to work during the day.

“It allows them to satisfy their fine without having to go to jail,” Blough said. “The city gets some labor, and they don’t have to put them on the payroll for that.”

Others who say they’ll pay their fine and are arrested when they fail to pay are often kept in the city jail while they work off their fines.

The most common assignments are to public works and the police department and jail itself.

“Right now, we have had one or two a month,” Blough said. “It’s way down from what it used to be. We found we had to make the requirements a little more stringent. It doesn’t work unless they’re diligent in their assignments.”

The problem is designating someone to supervise the workers, he said. If one gets assigned to a department, that department must have enough personnel to designate a supervisor to watch the worker.

And in the work release program, people don’t get multiple chances.

“If they fail to complete (the program) once, we won’t put them back there,” Blough said. “It shows they’re more trouble than they’re worth.”

But for those who are dedicated to the program, it’s very beneficial, Mayor Phillip West said.

“The kinds of work they do is what we need to have done,” he said. “Public works is limited in personnel, so any time we have additional personnel, it’s a help.”

Concordia Parish, too, has a work release program, but Sheriff Randy Maxwell wouldn’t elaborate.

Maxwell said the trustie program and the work release program were two separate programs and did not want to confuse people.

“It is an entirely different program,” Maxwell said. “There are different standards and they are a different classification of inmate.”

Wesley Steckler contributed to this article.