The Etowah County Commission decided in August to give more space to the county's community corrections program, but there is a problem now in coming up with the money to renovate the space so it can be used.

The commission had approved space on the ground floor of the county judicial center to be used by the program, which hopes to expand. The court system assigns non-violent offenders to time in the program as an alternative to prison.

Dominique Langdon, director, said about 200 people are in the program – up from the 125 who were in it in August when the commission was asked for the space.

She said about half of those are "prison diversion" - people who otherwise would have been sentenced to prison - and there are also people in the program who are on bond from the county jail.

Langdon said the staff members "intensely supervise" people in the program. She said they will see some in the program once or twice a week to check their progress and "try to get them back on the track" rather than going to prison.

As conditions for being in the program, Langdon said, the participants must get a job and can be referred for a drug treatment program or GED preparation. She said they also undergo drug testing.

"Basically, we sit down with the person to determine what they need and then see them weekly," Langdon said.

She said some people in the program are also under house arrest and wear a monitor so authorities can keep up with where they are.

She said the program has a good success rate but some people do end up going back to prison.

Langdon said the program has about $10,000 it can spend on the renovations. She said she was surprised at the projected cost of $46,551 for the renovation, which will create four offices, a hallway and two bathrooms in space that had been used for court records.

"We'll use every inch," she said.

The records that had been in the space were moved to the building's attic after architects determined the records could be moved there safely.

The renovation work can be done by a combination of county workers, jail inmates and contractors.

The space is adjacent to the program's existing office and will be connected by a doorway.

Langdon said the original estimate had been for just less than $20,000 but an additional bathroom and walls were added, which increased the cost.

Langdon said if the commission would pay for the work, the program would reimburse the county, but she didn't know how long it would take.

County Administrator Harry Still said he does not plan to recommend to the commission that it finance the work because of cash flow concerns. He said the county's general fund has loaned Immigration and Naturalization funds and other funds as well.

He said the county would "get started right away" on using the $10,000 the program has.

Langdon said the community corrections program already saves money for the state - about $19,000 in January for 98 people who did not go to prison. She said more space would allow the program to add several hundred people.

Langdon said that in February there were 12 people sentenced to the program rather than to jail and one other who came from a prison.

She said funds also are saved by the county because some people are put on bond and required to participate.

Chief of Corrections Wes Williamson said he did not know if expanding the program would save the county any money because he would have to know the type inmate assigned to it.

The program is self-supporting with money the program receives from the Department of Corrections, which is $5 to $15 per day for diverting people from the prison system. There is also a $50 per month supervisory fee charged for overseeing people sentenced to the program.

Langdon said that monthly costs include random drug testing and supervision.

Langdon said she is attempting to determine how long it would take the commission to be reimbursed for the work. She said the program's four employees share one office now. With the current conditions there is no confidentiality and people have to wait in the lobby to see a program counselor. She said the program has to use the public rest rooms to get urine samples for drug tests.

She said with the additional space the program could hire two more employees and expand to have 700 to 800 people. She said they could pay the county back for the work over a period of time.

Presiding Etowah County Circuit Judge Allen Millican said the program is a good one because it saves tax money.

Millican, who is on the community corrections board of directors, said the program needs to figure out how it can repay the money to the county so the work can be done.

The work could be done in stages so the money won't have to be paid at one time, he said.

Millican said the community corrections program allows judges to sentence non-violent offenders to it rather than sending them to prison.

Millican said the state is pushing for alternative sentencing programs.

"In the long run it's pay me now or pay me later," Millican said. He said the program is effective for the community as a whole and allows alternatives to incarceration, which uses tax dollars.

He said those in the program are state prisoners, but the people of the county benefit because those who have had a family member arrested have a chance for them to be rehabilitated rather than going to prison.

"I have found on occasions," Millican said, "that when you send people to prison they come back better criminals."

David Horn, director of research and community corrections with the Alabama Department of Corrections, said the state is encouraging the expansion of community corrections programs but the state does not have money to help.

He said it costs the state $27 a day to house inmates, but it costs the state only about $10 a day to have someone in a community corrections program. He said the diversion fee ranges from $5 a day to $15 per day depending on how long a person is in the program.

Horn said community corrections statewide will run out of money in May unless the Legislature approves more money.

"You're helping your own people and you're also helping your own recidivism rate by keeping them and maybe helping them stay out of jail so that they won't re-offend," Horn said.

He said community corrections can also help a county jail by diverting inmates from the jail to the program.

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