Baldwin County Pre-Trial And Community Corrections

About the Program

Category: Criminal Justice and Public Safety (Best in Category)

Year: 2012

The Baldwin County Community Corrections Division was created to address the problem of overcrowding within the county correctional facility. The current economic crisis; accompanied with budget and funding cuts, have made it necessary to be creative when addressing the inmate population. The program is comprised of multiple programs. The division began with the creation of the Pre‐Trial Release Program. This program enrolls qualified offenders who can not make bond or bail, allowing them to be responsible citizens while awaiting their court dates. These offenders are strictly monitored and supervised on a weekly basis. These offenders pay a small monthly fee to participate in the program. The second phase of the Community Corrections Division was created as a Post‐Sentence/Non‐Residential Community Corrections Program. These offenders are sentenced by a judge into the program and ordered to pay fines or restitution. These offenders are strictly monitored while maintaining employment and pay a monthly fee for supervision in the program. Depending on the individual, ankle monitors may be used in their supervision. The third phase of the Community Corrections Division was the creation of the Community Service Program/Adult. This program was designed for non‐violent offenders to complete community service hours as part of their sentence. This allowed the individual to maintain employment while serving the public or non‐profit organizations with valuable labor at no cost to them. These offenders pay a one‐time fee for enrollment in the program. The fourth phase of the Community Corrections Division was the creation of the Residential Work Release Program. This program was designed as an alternative to total incarceration. These offenders are allowed to work outside the correctional facility but must return to the correctional facility during their non‐working hours. These offenders must be employed, allowing them to maintain their employment and their civic duties. Fees that are imposed of these offenders are collected directly from their paychecks. The fifth and most recent phase of the Community Corrections Division was the creation of the Community Service Program/Juvenile. This program enrolls offenders out of juvenile court who are sentenced by a judge to perform a given number of community service hours. These hours are worked for a non‐profit organization to satisfy their debt to society. These offenders pay a small one‐time fee for enrollment in the program. The Baldwin County Community Corrections Programs have been extremely successful.