Lawrence County Probation Programs Saving Taxpayers Thousands Of Dollars

Last updated on Tuesday, May 29, 2018

(BEDFORD) - The Lawrence County Commissioners Tuesday morning were presented information that Lawrence County Community Correction programs has saved taxpayers more than $13,375,600 in savings in 2017 by placing offenders on probations instead of placing them in jail.

So far from January until May, probation has seen 430 new cases on probations and saved taxpayers more than $3,614,580.

Not only is the program saving money by placing offenders on probation, the departments are funding their programs with grant money. So far, for 2018-19 the department has received more than $762,690 in grant funding.

"We currently have 19 probation officers in the department and of those the county only pays the salary for five," says Lawrence County Chief Probation Officer Nedra Fleetwood Brock. "The rest are funded through grants."

The following are the 1st quarter statistics for 2018:

Adult Community Service

From January 1st until March 31 - the courts ordered 4,176 community service hours be completed. Of those hours 3,622 were completed at a 87 percent success rate. The 3,622 completed hours represents approximately 452.75 jail days, which equals $25,372.11 in jail savings. Labor costs savings to the community at $7.25 an hour at 3,622 hours completed equals $26,259.50.

Adult Home Detention

Adult Home Detention days completed from Jan. 1 until March 31 were 7,209 days; 201 more days than in 2017 in the same quarter. Savings to the county in incarceration costs equal 7,209 days at a cost to house an inmate at $56.04 at day at the Department of Corrections equals a savings of $403,992.36.

Juvenile Home Detention

Juvenile Home Detention days completed from Jan. 1 until March 31 were 469 days. It cost $135 a day to house a juvenile offender. Detention savings to the county were $63,315. Juvenile Community Service completed 374 hours during that time frame saving the county $2,711.50 in labor costs.

2017 Lawrence County Community Corrections Statisiltics:

Adult Program - 681 successfully completed the program, 224 were unsuccessful in completing the program, with a 75 percent overall successful completion rate.
Juvenile Program: 113 successfully completed the program, 50 were unsuccessful in completing the program, with a 69 percent successful completion rate.
Home Detention/Electronic Monitoring: 29,717 days were completed and at the current IOC per diem of $56.04 that is $1,665,340.60 in jail incarceration savings.

Grant money earned in 2018/19

Community supervision from the Department of Corrections (DOC) - $337,374
Juvenile Grant from the Department of Corrections - $32,226
Juvenile Grant -DOC/additional funding - $12.750
Justice Reinvestment Grant - Court Recidivisim - $236,900
Justice Reinvestment Grant - Court Recidivisim - $118,300
Supreme Court Grant for Problem Solving Court II - $8,261
Supreme Court Grant for Problem Solving Court I - $4,038
Supreme Court Grant of Juvenile Problem Solving Court - $7,093
LCCC - $4,500
Community Foundation Grant - $1,250
For a total of - $762,692

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