CO County To Build New Work Release Center
Weld County CO is moving ahead with plans to build its own work-release facility after problems surfaced last year at The Villa, which used to house a similar center, according to the Greeley Tribune.
The Greeley City Council approved a Planned Unit Development for the new work-release site … on Tuesday night. Weld County will own it, but contractor Intervention Community Correction Services will run the work-release site.
The Villa, operated by the Oklahoma-based company Avalon, came under fire after reports surfaced detailing sexual liaisons between staff and inmates and a tunnel that held weapons and drug paraphernalia. Work-release offenders were then moved to the Weld County Jail, where they will remain until the new facility is complete …
Construction on the new site — which will house 228 people in more than 35,000 square feet in its first phase of building — will begin in a few months, Weld officials say. There also will be second and third phases of construction. The second will add 72 beds and more than 16,000 square feet. A third construction phase will come later, officials said … The facility will run 24 hours a day. Guards will be unarmed and there will be no lockdown ability. At the facility, the program participants will be able to leave for work while others will come to the facility to meet caseworkers and to routinely take drug tests.
Monica Mika, director of Weld County’s Administrative Services, said the facility offers a better alternative to simply jailing everyone. “We know as a nation that we can not continue to just build jails,” Mika said.
Recent Comments