Western Regional Day Report Center receives $530,000 grant

Western Regional Day Report Center receives $530,000 grant

Jul. 11, 2015 @ 12:01 AM
By MICHAEL HUPP

WAYNE - The Western Regional Day Report Center, which serves Cabell and Wayne counties, has been awarded $530,000 to go toward substance abuse treatment programs, West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin announced Friday.

The governor announced $6.3 million had been awarded to 27 agencies across the state through the West Virginia Community Corrections Grant Program to assist in the establishment and continued operation of community corrections programs.

Chris Dean, director of the Western Regional Day Report Center, said the funding will be used to help those in the program receive treatment to get their lives back on track.

"The programs are geared toward adjusting underlying problems to help break the cycle so hopefully they will not return into the court system upon completing the program," Dean said Friday in a phone interview.

The day report center primarily receives designated funding from the two counties it serves, but the organization writes grants to provide extra funding for other programs such as drug abuse treatment.

Participants go through the substance abuse program while completing community service outlined in their sentence for criminal offenses. Click here to read more >

New drug court program opens in Wayne County
2/8/2012 9:45 AM By Kyla Asbury  -Wayne Bureau

Click here to read the article

WAYNE - West Virginia's newest Adult Drug Court program held its opening ceremony in Wayne County on Feb. 6 to explain the importance of the drug court program in helping to fight drug abuse in the state.

The Wayne County Adult Drug Court held its opening ceremony in Circuit Judge Darrell Pratt's courtroom, where state Supreme Court Chief Justice Menis Ketchum, a Wayne County native, signed the order for the program.

Pratt said the drug court program is to help drug addicts who have committed a crime and fights the addiction first.

"There are a large number of people involved in non-violent offenses who are addicts," Pratt said. "We are going to help these people and deal with their addiction first."

Chief Justice Brent D. Benjamin said the drug court program is important because it helps people with their addictions.

"It's not an easy program to go through, but it changes people," Benjamin said. "This program turns them around and helps them get better."

Pratt said the program is an 18-month program.

The participants in the drug court program will appear in front of Pratt every week as part of the program and will have weekly rehabilitation, counseling and drug screenings.

Pratt said the drug court program is another tool to help combat substance abuse.

"We're going to be dealing with drug addicts who have happened to commit a crime, not criminals who have a drug habit," Pratt said.

Benjamin said drug courts saved West Virginia $31 million last year.

UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GOODWIN HONORS OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT & VICTIM ASSISTANCE LEADERS DURING 2011 AWARDS CEREMONY

On October 6, 2011, United States Attorney Booth Goodwin presented awards to more than 80 honorees at the 2011 United States Attorney’s Law Enforcement and Victim Assistance Awards ceremony held at the Marshall University Foundation Hall, Erickson Alumni Center in Huntington, West Virginia.

The annual awards ceremony, hosted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of West Virginia, recognized exemplary service of federal, state and local law enforcement officers, as well as other community organization leaders who have made significant contributions on behalf of the criminal justice system. Click here to read more >

Day Report Center receives grant

Courtesy of the Western Regional Day Report Center

Cabell County Commissioner Scott Bias, Western Regional Day Report Director Christopher Dean, Gov. Joe Manchin and Day Report Assistant Director Justin Lockwood stand as the governor delivers a community corrections grant Tuesday, June 8, 2010, in Huntington.June 10, 2010 @ 12:00 AM

CURTIS JOHNSON

The Herald-Dispatch

CHARLESTON -- Gov. Joe Manchin presented an annual community corrections grant Tuesday to the Western Regional Day Report Center, according to a press release issued Tuesday.

The grant provides $425,000 in funding to assist in day-to-day operations of the center. Established in July 2008, the center provides Cabell and Wayne counties an alternative to jail for those accused of crime. The grant was presented during a Tuesday presentation in Charleston.

The center's director, Christopher Dean, said the $425,000 grant accounts for 65 to 70 percent of his agency's total revenue. It covers personnel costs. Other funding sources provide for the center's programing and utilities.

Defendants report to the center each day. They receive supervision and treatment, along with doing jobs assigned by supervisors. The center helps those defendants with addiction, mental health and other issues.

The program has been credited with saving counties commissions money otherwise spent to incarcerate inmates in the state's regional jail system.

The center also receives funding from other grants, along with the defendants and counties it serves.

Western Regional Day Report Center accepts $20,000 worth of equipment

May 14, 2010 @ 12:00 AM
CHRISTIAN ALEXANDERSEN

The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON -- The Western Regional Day Report Center recently accepted about $20,000 worth of equipment from Husqvarna, a worldwide producer of outdoor equipment.

Justin Lockwood, assistant director of the Western Regional Day Report Center, said donated items included chain saws as well as lawn mowers and trimmers. The donation was made by Rich Hardware & Rental in Barboursville, a local distributor of Husqvarna products.

Lockwood said the new equipment will be used by those assigned to the day report centers in Cabell and Wayne counties. Crews, which are made up of about 10 to 15 nonviolent offenders, travel around the area cleaning up public properties like parks and roadways.

Lockwood said they've recently participated in a massive community service project at the Beech Fork State Park with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and the governor's REAP Program. Crews from the day report center also participate in tire cleanups and debris removal projects around the community, Lockwood said.

Cabell County Manager Stephen Zoeller said the crews tried out the new tools during a clean up at a piece of property on Darnell Road in Barboursville. The property, Zoeller said, was purchased by FEMA and given to the county to maintain.

Crews cleaned up the site and cut overgrown brush. The day report center crews, Zoeller said, provide a great service for the community by performing tasks that others don't have the time to do.

To suggest public properties to be cleaned up in Cabell and Wayne counties, visit the Western Regional Day Report Center's website at www.wrdrc.com.

Pay raises approved in Cabell budget

March 27, 2010 @ 12:00 AM

CHRISTIAN

The Herald-Dispatch

HUNTINGTON -- The Cabell County Commission unanimously approved the Fiscal Year 2010-2011 budget on Friday which included $500 pay raises for all civilian employees working in the courthouse and $1,000 raises for sheriff's deputies.

Commissioners agreed that the budget was one of the tightest they've have to deal with in recent years but were pleased they were able to give pay raises. The commission said it was also pleased that it was able to find enough money to give the elected officials most of what they asked for.

The cost of the raises for the 144 civilian employees and 40 deputies will be $72,000 and $40,000, respectively.

"I think the commission did as much as it possibly could with the dollars we had available," said Commissioner Nancy Cartmill. "I think what we gave (employees) was a very small pay raise for the county to give their employees, but it does let our employees know that we haven't forgotten them."

Commissioner Bob Bailey said the raises may be small, but they are much needed since the worldwide financial collapse.

"In this economy, when people have lost their jobs and people are really suffering, for us to be able to give a small raise to the deputies and to the civilian employees is good work," Bailey said.

The commissioners said there seemed to be enough money in the budget to warrant the raises.

Commissioner Scott Bias said there are a number of reasons why the deputies received higher raises than the civilian employees. The county has to compete with other counties and law enforcement agencies, such as the Huntington Police Department, who pay much more to their employees than what the deputies working in Cabell County are getting.

"A lot of our employees are underpaid but the deputies are farther underpaid," Bias said.

The reason the commission has money for pay raises is because of a pilot program that aims to cut jail costs by releasing nonviolent offenders before trial.

The pilot program, established by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, requires a full-time person to interview and perform background checks on all Cabell County arrests before trial. The individual reports back to a committee made up of representatives from law enforcement and court officials who will meet at least once a week.

The committee determines if certain non-violent offenders should be put in home confinement, work with the Day Report Center or housed at the Western Regional Jail in Barboursville. The committee makes its recommendations to designated circuit court and magistrate judges.

These judges decide if the offender should remain in jail or be released until trial. Commission approved the establishment of the program in November.

Since it was established in Cabell County, County Manager Stephen Zoeller said the county has saved $20,000 a month on jail costs.

Aside from pay raises, Zoeller said the commission also funded $13,000 for additional early-voting poll workers and $25,000 for overtime for deputies. The budget has been sent to the state auditor for final approval.

Capacity in regional jail gets attention

WVU Bureau Students
Published: Mar 22, 2010

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.--West Virginia officials are giving more attention to alternative sentencing as a way to deal with overcrowded prisons and jails. Currently, West Virginia's prisons have 6,500 inmates. That's 1,200 more than the system is designed to hold. Those excess inmates are then forced to stay at regional jails long term - something they weren't intended to do. Corrections Commissioner Jim Rubenstein said alternative sentencing could help. Doing so would reduce the amount of time inmates spend in jail, he said. This would mean shorter terms for nonviolent crimes, placing anyone who has been convicted of a drug-related offense into treatment programs, and allowing inmates to be put on home confinement. "We feel that 80 percent of people in the system have a direct addiction to a substance," Rubenstein said. "Seventy percent of them are nonviolent crimes." Providing treatment and counseling opportunities in a less secure setting to help inmates function in society when released is one way to deal with overcrowding issues, he said. "When I arrived in 1997 there were overcrowding issues," said Steve Canterbury, administrative director of courts in West Virginia. He was the executive director of the Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority from 1997 to 2005. During that time, about $520 million was spent on new facilities, and in 2005, overcrowding was still a problem, he said. More than a dozen recommendations have been made to Gov. Joe Manchin to help fix the problem. One proposal involved building a 1,200-bed medium security prison. "But clearly we can't build our way out of this problem," Canterbury said. Monongalia Circuit Court Judge Russell Clawges said he believes treatment is the best way to help drug offenders stay out of prisons. Clawges has presided over the county's drug court since it opened in February last year. "Drug courts are designed to deal with people who are in the system because of addiction or who are in the system and addicted," he said. "All of those in our program have been convicted of felonies." The county's drug court is based on three factors: supervision, treatment and responsibility. Those going through drug court must be heavily supervised. Instead of monthly meetings with a probation officer, offenders visit them weekly. Treatment is administered at mandatory rehabilitation sessions three times a week. "Addiction has been classified as an illness, and like any long term illness, proper treatment is needed for recovery," Clawges said. Responsibility also is key, Clawges said. If the individuals are unwilling to accept responsibility for their actions, they will not get better, he said. A system of incentives and sanctions also are used as motivation to do well in the program. Incentives include restaurant gift certificates. Sanctions can vary from writing an essay to spending a week behind bars. Those participating in the drug court are kept on home confinement for a minimum of a year, although few complete the program in that amount of time. "The cost of drug court is much cheaper than staying at a penitentiary," Clawges said. Monongalia's drug court is the seventh of its kind in the state. WVU journalism students James Carbone, Karilynn Galiotos and Brian Young contributed to this report.

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