Jail Program Puts Offenders to Work

BY ELIZABETH EMMETT 

In partnership with CalTrans, the Napa County Department of Corrections has recently implemented a program to clean up Napa County highways and offer a sentencing alternative to offenders sentenced to County Jail.

 Under the program, a crew of eligible offenders, supervised by a Correctional Officer from the jail, performs cleanup activities in areas selected by CalTrans.

The offenders are screened for participation in the program by classification staff and then perform work hours instead of being placed into custody to serve their court-ordered sentence. The hours the offenders work are applied to reduce or satisfy their jail sentence.

In the short time it has been implemented, the Community Corrections Work Program (CCWP)  has been responsible for cleaning debris from miles of Napa County highways.  The goal is for the program to expand to include other community service projects.

“We hope that in the future, agencies and non-profit organizations in Napa County will be able to request CCWP crews to clean up roads, clear brush, paint public areas, or fill other community needs,” said Director of Corrections Lenard Vare.

The services will be provided free of charge, upon request, to government agencies or non-profit organizations that provide services to the citizens of Napa County. No private projects will be considered. Project applications and instructions can be downloaded from the Napa County website at www.countyofnapa.org, under Departments - Corrections.

Agencies that request crews must provide all materials for the project, as well as a contact person for the duration of the project. For more information, call Classification Supervisor Sandy Gross at (707) 299-1399.