PARKERSBURG - Wood County Community Corrections Day Report Center services are being offered in Jackson County, and DRC officials are looking at expanding the rehabilitation program even farther.

"We are ready to start taking clients now in Jackson County. It's my understanding they have a backlog of referrals ready to go for us. The office is pretty much set up," Jeff Williams, DRC director told county commissioners.

"Last week we met with Roane County commissioners and had a very beneficial discussion. They seem very interested in letting us provide services," Williams said. "They liked the services we had to offer. I gave them an outline for a contract to review and I expect to hear back from them sometime this week."

Williams said the Roane County officials also suggested the DRC consider joining forces with Clay County as well.

"Apparently there is a bus service that runs daily from Clay through Roane over to Ripley that the clients could use. So we may actually be looking at a three-county regional program out of our Ripley facility," Williams said, noting Roane County officials predicted they would probably have client numbers comparable to Jackson County.

"I feel pretty good about the direction we're taking with the expansion. Our numbers here are growing locally. We currently have 211 clients being served in Wood County now. We are using our community service vans. I have talked with several entities about some roadside projects," Williams. He noted he is also in discussions with the local historical society about the possibility of providing some program participants to assist with maintenance of rural cemeteries.

"I would say the Jackson County expansion is a big positive," commission President Rick Modesitt said.

The DRC provides counseling, community service, and other rehabilitation services to clients assigned by the courts to the alternative to jail program. The participants pay to take part in the grant-funded program, and their participation allows the county to further reduce its jail bill, which has in the past been budgeted at more than $2 million.

Modesitt noted state prison/jail officials are encouraging regional expansions of DRC programs in hopes of helping smaller neighboring counties reduce the number of inmates they are sending to the already overcrowded jails.

"We looked at the success rate for our program, and we have between 53-54 percent of those going through who are not engaging in recidivism, at least on the short-term. When you compare that to the rates of the jails and prisons, we have a pretty successful program. So, we not only save upfront on the jail bill, but also save on the back end because you don't have the people out there committing more crimes once they get out. I think everyone realizes what we've known for years, that jails and prisons alone can't deal with the problems," Williams said.

The DRC received an expansion grant to help fund that project as well as some start up funding from Jackson County to assist in getting the program underway there.