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Middle Virginia Community Diversion Incentive Program provides close supervision for individuals who have been convicted of nonviolent crimes and are required to perform community service in lieu of incarceration.
Judges know that prison is not always the best place for offenders. On occasion, nonviolent persons have learned violent behavior in prison or a local jail. They lose their jobs, stop paying taxes, and stop supporting their families while in jail or prison. Most significant is the fact that it costs taxpayers about $15,000 per year to keep one prisoner in a state penitentiary - prisons that are already desperately overcrowded and cost millions to build. (Source: Department of Corrections.)
Since January of this year, area judges have had another alternative to sentencing. Middle Virginia CDI provides intensive supervision of nonviolent offenders, with the added benefits of service to the community, payment of all court costs and restitution, and training and treatment programs - all without prisons.
Clients of CDI - both misdemeanants and felons - are required to perform the number of community service hours ordered by a judge and pay all obligations. They must find and keep a job, refrain from drug or serious alcohol use, and obey other regulations. CDI case managers monitor clients closely through regular home and office visits, and refer clients to area agencies for job training, educational and vocational alternatives, and a variety of counseling services.
A number of area non-profit organizations benefit from the community service work of CDI clients. Local recreation centers, hospitals, nursing homes, animal shelters, police departments, social service
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