Day center proposed as way to cut jail costs

Prosecutor Debra McLaughlin asked the Morgan County Commissioners for their support in having the county join the Jefferson/Berkeley County Day Report Center for convicted persons.

McLaughlin and Joe Sachet, director of the Day Report Center, brought up the issue at the commission meeting on Thursday, August 12.

“The center can benefit the citizens of the county and its government by providing alternative sentencing in lieu of incarceration,” Sachet said.
The center can save the costs of incarcerating people convicted of non-violent crimes in the Eastern Regional Jail. The current cost per day to house a prisoner at the jail is $48.40, Sachet said.

Sachet, a 31-year-veteran of the Maryland Department of Corrections, said the Day Report Center in Martinsburg, opened last October and presently has 16 clients. Four others are waiting for approval to join the program.

The center currently has three full-time and three part-timer employees and is seeking to hire a community service coordinator and certified driver.
“The center offers many different types of treatment programs.

Some of the stronger ones are the alcohol and drug group, individual counseling, life skill and management, community alternatives to violence and batterers, a basic taught education program so you can receive your GED, problem gambling and a plan to stop using drugs,” Sachet said.

Entry into the program is coordinated by magistrate and circuit court in conjunction with the prosecutor’s office and defense attorneys.

Two screenings are performed to determine if a person is a good candidate for the program. The center has the final say on an applicant, Sachet said.
Though some persons who have committed battery are allowed into the program, serious battery cases and other violent or sexual criminals are not accepted.

“I have the final word on who enters the center and my number one concern is public safety,” Sachet said.

Pay to attend
Clients do not get a free ride. Each client pays $100 a month, $10 for each drug test and $25 for extra costs, Sachet said.

Sachet proposed the county pay compensation, less than the cost at the Eastern Regional Jail for each client, that comes into the program until a grant can be written and submitted for the next fiscal year.

“I like this program because it’s on the front end of the criminal justice system as opposed to the back end where people are in and out of prison,” Sachet said.

“Basically it’s an intensive program and it can be used at the Magistrate Court level. At this point in time, sentencing-wise, our options for Magistrate Court are jail, unsupervised probation or home confinement,” McLaughlin said.

She said circuit judges can use the program because it provides more intensive supervision than probation and can be used as a term of probation.

Day report center have been successful in Kanawha County and in the Northern Panhandle as well as in Jefferson and Berkeley counties, McLaughlin said.

Sachet said the center could pick up clients at a designated location and take them to and from the center, but he would want the county to share the costs until a grant is awarded.

“I don’t have a problem with you working with the prosecutor and seeing what you can come up with. I think it is a great idea,” Hutchinson told Sachet.

“It looks like a good deal for us. We save money and turn our citizens into better citizens,” Swaim said.

Document display

McLaughlin also introduced Chris Bosley of Berkeley Springs to the commissioners.

Bosley is building a 12-ft.-long table that will display under glass a copy of the original four pages of the U.S. Constitution, a copy of the Declaration of Independence and a copy of the original Bill of Rights.

He offered to give the display when finished to the courthouse at cost. The prosecutor’s office has been collecting donations to fund the project.

McLaughlin suggested the table be placed in the area outside one of the courtrooms for people to view while waiting for court.

The display table is to be completed and installed in time for Constitution Day, Friday, September 17.