COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho -- Females at the Kootenai County Jail will now be allowed to take care of chores around the jail.
All the chores at the jail, including cleaning and cooking, were previously taken care of by the men prior to 2015.
However, jail staff changed the policy when civil rights group began looking into it.
Jail staff said they tried having both male and female worker inmates prior to 2015, but it was not working out.
"We weren't able to keep them separated very well, that was a problem for us," said Kimberly Edmondson, the Jail Bureau Commander.
Males and females are usually separated at the jail. But in late 2014, jail officials received word that the American Civil Liberties Union had asked about the facility's lack of a work program for females.
Worker inmates get extra privileges, like some extra TV channels and more food options. So jail staff sat down and told the ACLU they would fix that, no problem.
"It was just a matter of us changing how we do business here," said Edmondson. "And looking at things a little bit differently."
The jail has since moved part of its female population to a different area. There is now around eight female inmates who are on laundry duty, where about one-million pounds of laundry is done each year. A change that both the ladies and jail staff are just fine with.
"If it's a mountain, we're going to get to the top and just make it work," said Edmondson.
One new addition will be an extra door to the laundry room so that the female worker inmates can have direct access to that area from their part of the jail.
