NEW CENTER TO OFFER ALTERNATIVE PRISON, SENTENCING PROGRAM

FLORENCE - When Elizabeth Berry started her yearlong tenure as Lauderdale
County Circuit Judge Mike Jones' law clerk, the judge gave her a major project.

Jones asked Berry to research the idea of a community corrections center in
Lauderdale County.

Beginning Tuesday, Berry has a new task: director of the center.

"I worked hard on it and became very interested in it," Berry said. "I
decided to apply for the director's position."

She was hired and begins work in that role when the office opens Tuesday.

The Lauderdale County Community Corrections and Punishment Authority is an
alternative sentencing and prison diversion program.

Instead of sending someone to jail or prison for some offenses, the
defendant can be placed on programs such as suspended work release, Berry said.

The program involves strict supervision. That includes testing for alcohol
or drug use, checking with the employers of those on suspended work release
and making sure they are pursuing rehabilitative programs that apply to the
offenders, such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, she said.

Those without a high school diploma must pursue a General Educational
Development diploma.

"We will know where they are all the time," Berry said. "They're not just
running free. If they don't comply with our orders, they get revoked and go
straight to jail or prison."

Offenders are carefully screened before a judge determines they are
eligible for the program. Berry said they cannot have a nonviolent offense,
sex crime or drug-trafficking charge.

The program is designed for those convicted of driving under the influence,
theft, writing bad checks and those types of offenses. Many in the program
are people who have failed to pay court-ordered restitution or fines or are
behind on child support payments, Berry said.

Since the program involves steady work and a payment system, coupled with
strict monitoring, it helps victims receive the money they are due, she said.

Several counties in Alabama have similar programs. The state Department of
Corrections funds the program, Berry said.

It is governed by a board that includes Jones, Lauderdale District Judge
Deborah Paseur, Lauderdale Chief Assistant District Attorney Doug Evans,
Lauderdale Chief Deputy Ronnie Willis and county attorney Chris Smith.

Berry started researching the program Sept. 4, 2001.

The timing for her new job is ideal, since her clerkship concluded this month.

Berry graduated from the University of Alabama's law school in 2000 and
worked a year in Washington, D.C., before coming to Lauderdale County.

The Lauderdale program includes the director, a staff of nine work-release
officers and three office workers.

Its annual budget will be about $600,000. Berry said some of that will be
recouped through the fact that it will produce more court-ordered payments,
such as fines.

There are anywhere from 60-100 work-release inmates in the county at any
time, and an average of 300 people in the suspended work-release program,
Berry said.

"It will all be under one umbrella," she said. "It will be more
centralized, just easier to manage."