Mission Statement

To provide community based alternatives to incarceration that reduce the cost of
punishment while maintaining the integrity of the criminal justice system.

Pretrial Services identifies and assists those defendants that are in jail and unable to post bond. Primarily, the program deals with nonviolent offenders whose cases are pending before the District Court, Grand Jury, or Circuit Court. A Pretrial investigation involves the following:

"  Initial Screening

"  Criminal History

"  Interview

"  Verification

"  Recommendation

"  Release

"  Supervision

The Intake Unit is designed to conduct an extensive interview of offenders that are suitable for Community Corrections Center programs. After a careful screening process the offender is placed in the most appropriate Community Corrections Center program. This unit conducts a complete inventory of the offenders:

"  Criminal History

"  Educational Level

"  Social Summary

"  Substance Abuse Issues

"  Mitigating Circumstances

Referrals are generated from District and Circuit Court judges. The criteria for developing the most appropriate program are established by using a standard classification scale.

The Intake Unit is also responsible for screening and interviewing all potential Drug Court clients.

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The Alternative Sentencing Program identifies certain felony offenders who can be punished safely within the community by utilizing sentencing options that range from probation to incarceration. There are different requirements that qualify an offender for the program:

"  Felony Charge

"  Youthful Offender Status

"  Prison Bound

"  Safely Punishable within the Community

"  Facing Probation Revocation

By offering an individualized plan for offenders, the Alternative Sentencing program is striving to ease prison overcrowding, decrease the rates of recidivism, and lower the cost of punishment.

Institutional Diversion (Early Release)

The Department of Corrections identifies certain inmates sentenced for non-violent offenses in the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit who may be released early and supervised by this program until their end of sentence date (EOS).

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Court Referral Officers are a key ingredient in Alabamas comprehensive approach to the management of cases involving substance or other related issues. Court Referral Officers provide a thorough evaluation and make appropriate recommendations for each offender. This important information will ensure court placement of each defendant into the most appropriate intervention to supplement traditional judicial sanctions. Court Referral Officers are available to the Circuit, District, and Municipal Courts. Each offender is referred to appropriate interventions, monitored monthly to insure compliance, drug tested monthly, and the court is informed of any violations and/or completions.

REQUIREMENTS

"  Driving Under the Influence

"  Substance Abuse Offense

"  Domestic Abuse Offense

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The Mobile Drug Court is a comprehensive substance abuse intervention program. The program is designed to intervene once a person is charged with a substance abuse or related offense. Treatment is spread over a twelve-month period and aids in the reduction of future criminal activity. Involvement with 12 step programs, attending group therapy, regular drug testing, and payment of fees are required.

The goal of the Mobile Drug Court is to reduce crime caused by substance abuse, lessen the cost to the criminal justice system, and reinstate a drug free individual into society as a productive citizen.

CRITERIA FOR ADMITTANCE

"  Charged with a substance abuse or related Felony offense

"  Assessment indicates drug dependency

"  No violent behavior demonstrated

"  Possible repeat offender without intervention

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Probation Services is a formal probationary program that provides a high level of supervision including the monitoring of the offender, the enforcement of court ordered probationary conditions, and the opportunity for self-improvement and rehabilitation. Referrals are received from District and Circuit court as well as courtesy supervisions from other states. Facilitators of Victim Impact Panels Electronic Monitoring and Kiosk.

CONDITIONS

"  Report as ordered by Probation Officer

"  Random Drug Testing

"  Payment of supervision fees, restitution, court costs, and fines

"  No violations of laws or ordinances

"  Comply with all special conditions

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The Electronic/GPS Monitoring program allows offenders an alternative to incarceration by wearing an electronic bracelet. These offenders are able to report to work in most cases but are required to go directly home afterwards. This program determines individual requirements for each offender and monitors their movements to ensure requirements of court and the program are met. The program also offers Alcohol monitoring through the use of SCRAM (Alcohol Monitoring Bracelet). The monitoring equipment takes periodic B.A.C. (Blood Alcohol Content) readings of the offender and reports electronically the results of that every 24 hours to the supervising officer.

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Probation Automated Management System is utilized when accountability and monitoring can be enhanced or accomplished when personal interaction between the probationer and probation officer are not required. An example would be administrative probation, i.e. monitoring the timely payment of court costs, fines, restitution and compliance with random drug screenings. The kiosk is a fully automated reporting system where a person on pretrial release or probation can complete a routine interview, make a payment, and receive a receipt via the kiosk. The persons identity is verified by a biometric fingerprint scan.

The kiosk collects and stores data regarding judicially ordered special conditions such as drug testing, community service and other case information such as demographic changes and reporting frequency.

The kiosk monitors those offenders deemed appropriate based on risk and needs assessment factors pertaining to public safety and offender need.

The Kiosk is used to enhance personal supervision through augmentation of the kiosk and personal interviews. As an example, probation can be intensified by requiring frequent reporting with one monthly office visit with the probation officer and the additional reporting visits made through the kiosk.

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In support of court orders, the Community Service program sets mandatory requirements on offenders ordered to perform community service. These are as follows:

"  Required to pay an administrative fee

"  Must perform no less than 8 hours of service per week

"  Must report monthly

"  Must adhere to special placements made by the referring judge

The courts are notified of completions as these occur. Any violations of these requirements will result in further judicial proceedings.

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The Drug Testing AOD (Alcohol and Other Drugs) Laboratory Unit is designed to do non-custody urinalysis drug testing. The Corrections Center utilizes randomized color code testing. The laboratory performs drug testing on those defendants appearing for monitoring appointments for the various Community Corrections Center programs. These programs include Jail Diversion, Mobile Drug Court, Court Referral, Pretrial/Intake Services, Alternative Sentencing, and Electronic Monitoring.

The Laboratory staff performs all necessary precautions to ensure the integrity of all urine samples submitted for testing. The major duties of the Laboratory staff are the observation of the direct specimen collection, labeling the sample appropriately, ensuring that the specimen has not been adulterated, transporting the specimen to the laboratory testing area, testing the sample, and documenting the results.

The Drug Testing AOD Laboratory Offers:

"  A trained certified staff consisting of three females and two males

"  Perform qualitative urinalysis tests using Onsite Teststiks and Onsite Alcohol Preps. In addition breath-a-lyzer alcohol tests are performed using the S-D2 Intoxilyzer manufactured by CMI

"  FDA approved and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) guidelines regulated testing supplies as related to drug testing cut-off limitations

"  Standard chain-of-custody and Quality Control procedures

"  Confirmation Testing

"  Participate in proficiency testing service approved by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) as a quality assurance program

The AOD Laboratory tests approximately 51,000 non-custody defendants annually and statistics from the year 2000 showed a positive rate of less than 10%. In addition, the laboratory offers drug-testing services to other outside agencies or programs.

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The goal of the Community Corrections Center is to provide the Courts with appropriate alternatives to incarceration. These programs maintain effective, efficient, and safe management of offenders within our community.

The Community Corrections Centers programs, designed with the publics safety in mind, offer the criminal justice system an opportunity to increase an offenders accountability, provide restitution to the victim, tailor a sentence to an offenders crime and rehabilitative needs, reduce the cost of punishment, and ensure that scarce and costly prison cells are reserved for those from whom the public needs protection.

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Judge Charles A Graddick

Presiding Judge

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