NY County Opens New Community Corrections Center
The Community Corrections Center is a brand new facility at the Sullivan County Department of Corrections, which focuses on treating substance abuse. Report from WPTZ.
“Our goals are to move people back into their community and give them the supports they need and the guidance they need, and give them a platform where perhaps they’ll be more productive in the community they live in,” Superintendent Ross Cunningham told Newschannel 5. “A day in the life of an offender here would probably start in the a.m., very early. Probably 7 o’clock. It would be regimented by course work that they have to do during the course of the day, probably ending with a work shift.”
Inmates will either be sentenced directly to the center, or earn their way into the 90 day program with good behavior. At the center, inmates will be given jobs in the laundry room or as cleaners, teaching them productive skills for when they are released.
“They’re actually immersed in that environment. Our clinicians are actually attached to the treatment room. They’re part of the behavioral change that we’re looking for,” said Cunningham.
He added that many inmates wind up back in jail after they are released. He hopes this new program, which is longer and more educational than the model they have used in the past, will cut the return rate by 20 – 30 percent.
“It will be a huge undertaking,” Cunningham said. “But I think we’re prepared and confident that it will work.”
Cunning said he hopes the center will be up and running later this week.
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