Latest news with #CommunityCorrections
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Ribbon-cutting held for Lewis-Upshur Community Recovery Center
BUCKHANNON, (WBOY) — The Lewis-Upshur Community Recovery Center was introduced to the area during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday morning, where attendees were able to walk around the space and see some of the different features that the community recovery center has to offer. Some of the different services that are provided include counseling and group sessions, as well as other activities like yoga and art classes, according to 18th Judicial Circuit Community Corrections Program Director Cheyenne Troxell. She told 12 News that the reason the program chose this building instead of the Community Corrections & Day Report Center was to help reduce the stigma that comes with attempting to get help, and no drug testing is done in this building. VA hosts PACT Act Claims clinic in Clarksburg 'We're actually very blessed in Upshur County to have a lot of services,' said Troxell. 'But I think our addition of the different space and our hybrid model, […] combining traditional counseling with the holistic approaches is what works really well for the clients that we've seen.' Troxell stated that she feels this center will be a positive addition to the community because all of the services that the program will put on the monthly calendar are free to the community. Anybody is able to attend these events, and nothing additional is needed, such as insurance or a referral. According to Troxell, the 18th Judicial Circuit Community Corrections Program deals with a lot of clients and programs related to addiction. She added that almost anything can be addictive and addiction can manifest itself in many different forms (drugs, food, etc.), so they welcome anybody who's struggling with anything to stop by. The space is set up to be immersive, with murals and decorative backgrounds in many of the different rooms. There's also a sensory room in the facility, which Troxell said is for people who need different things to be able to heal. Troxell also told 12 News that she wants people who attended Wednesday's ribbon-cutting and open house to just think about how many needs there are of people that are around them in the community. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to
NZ Herald
24-04-2025
- NZ Herald
Stabbing of Department of Corrections staff member at Whanganui office prompts security review
A former probation officer at the Wilson St offices, who the Whanganui Chronicle has agreed not to name, said it was 'an incident waiting to happen'. She said she felt unsafe due to a lack of security at the office site. Unlike courts, there were no metal detectors or security guards where staff regularly met offenders. The ex-officer hoped a formal review could bring additional security measures. Morrison said they could confirm that the Whanganui Community Corrections site had CCTV, but for security reasons, could not detail all the security measures in place. 'We have robust processes in place which include extensive training for our staff on keeping safe at work, physical security features, and technological security features which enable staff to quickly activate a call for urgent assistance,' Morrison said. Morrison said Corrections took the safety and wellbeing of all staff extremely seriously. 'The reality of our environments and the people we manage means the risk of violence is something we cannot eliminate. 'However, we are committed to learning from the incident last week to identify additional steps we should take to keep our Community Corrections staff safe. 'Every single one of our staff deserves to feel safe and to go home to their loved ones each day.' Home visit safety concerns Probation officers work with people serving community-based sentences and help to rehabilitate recently released prisoners. The ex-officer said she was concerned about inadequate protection when making home visits to offenders. Morrison said community staff completed on-the-job training around how to keep themselves safe, which included strategies around de-escalation and environmental risks to consider. He said all sites had a process to account for all staff on home visits, including technological security features which enable them to quickly activate a call for urgent assistance. 'Two staff attend home visits, so there is an additional person to support the environmental assessment while the other is engaging with the person. 'If there are risks or safety concerns, the staff shouldn't conduct the home visit.' Man charged with stabbing A 25-year-old man appeared in Whanganui District Court on April 10 charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. The defendant was granted interim name suppression and remanded without plea until his next appearance. The duty lawyer said psychiatric reports were 'likely to be ordered' under the Mentally Impaired Persons Act.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tennessee revives intensive probation program after statewide demand
Justice A.A. Birch Building in Nashville, in which a Community Corrections program has operated. (Photo: Brad Freeman, Metropolitan Nashville General Sessions Court) Three years after curtailing an intensive probation program, the Department of Correction is reviving Community Corrections as part of a last-ditch effort to keep offenders out of prison. The state is taking bids from probation programs across Tennessee to resume supervision services to thousands of people on the brink of being sentenced to prison time. Requests for proposals are to be filed by April 14. Department of Correction spokesperson Dorinda Carter declined to say whether the state is taking a new direction, only that probation services contracts were set to expire and bids were re-issued to provide 'alternatives to incarceration.' Gov. Bill Lee's administration — despite orders from lawmakers to keep Community Corrections going because of its effectiveness — practically wrote the program out of existence with a request for proposals that required different guidelines. Vendors would have to offer either day reporting centers, outpatient treatment or a residential facility, and some weren't prepared to make such a shift. Davidson County Community Corrections keeps clients alive Legislators also sent a strong message to correction officials at an August 2023 meeting that they wanted the program to be renewed, instead of shifting all offenders to the state's probation program, which is considered understaffed and less effective. Lawmakers enacted the program in 1985 as a last-ditch effort to keep people who didn't qualify for regular probation out of prison. Republican Sen. Ed Jackson of Jackson has been working for three years to renew the program to allow Madison County's Community Corrections to start serving probationers again. 'Ever since they did away with it in several counties across the state, every one of them has said we really need it back. It's been effective, it's been good for us, keeps some people out of jail, lets them stay out and work, be supervised locally instead of going to a correctional facility,' Jackson said. The program cost $13.8 million when in full swing in 2022. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Chicago Tribune
27-03-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Man faces up to 10 1/2 years for burning overdosed woman's body in Gary
A man could face up to 10 1/2 years for burning an overdosed Griffith woman's body in an abandoned Gary building in September 2022. Emmit Yarbourgh, 56, of Gary, pleaded guilty Thursday in court to arson, a Level 4 felony, and abuse of a corpse, a Level 6 felony. His sentencing is May 15. Deborah Leslie was found Sept. 23, 2022, in a torched-out house on the 5300 block of W. 8th Avenue in Gary. She was last seen alive on camera at a Hammond Motel 6. Yarbrough and his late co-defendant Heather Richardson were the last people seen with her. Judge Natalie Bokota would have to accept the plea deal. The prison term largely rests on what she decides. In total, he faces 4 1/2-10 1/2 years. The plea deal calls for 2-8 years for the arson charge. Yarbrough agreed to a 2 1/2-year prison term for the abuse of corpse charge. After lawyers make their case, Bokota will decide whether the terms are consecutive or concurrent. In exchange, prosecutors agreed not to file a habitual offender enhancement, which would have added 5-20 years. They will also drop all other lower level charges. Bokota ordered Yarbrough to have an evaluation to see if he would qualify for the Lake County Community Corrections program. After the hearing, the victim's father, David Leslie, said he had 'mixed feelings' about the plea, but wanted at least a consecutive higher-end sentence. 'I would be OK with that,' he said. Last August, the trial was rescheduled to give Lake County Coroner's Office forensic pathologist Dr. Zhou Wang time to reexamine his findings. Leslie said they were looking at his daughter's CO2 levels to see if she could have been still alive. She was a smoker, which may have explained those readings. No ash was in her system, which would have been a sign she was still breathing, he said. Richardson died Jan. 26, 2024, of a fentanyl and cocaine overdose, according to the Lake County Coroner's Office.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Yahoo
‘Someone who just panicked': Hammond woman gets probation for leaving fatal crash
Judge Natalie Bokota sentenced an emotional Adrianne Hancock to four years' probation Tuesday for fleeing after she hit a man in a Hammond Strack & Van Til parking lot. There was no evidence you did it on purpose, the judge said. 'But he died,' Hancock responded. Deputy Prosecutor Lindsey Lanham said in court that in her discussions with victim Justin Fanslau's family that they forgave her and didn't want prison time, partially because it would hurt the grandson, now 6, Hancock was raising. Justin Fanslau, 51, of Bloomingdale, Illinois, was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center and died nine days later on Nov. 23, 2020, from blunt force injuries to his head and neck, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner. Hancock, 56, of Hammond, pleaded guilty in October to leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death or catastrophic injury, a Level 4 felony. She faced up to four years in the Lake County Community Corrections program. Hammond Police responded about 5 p.m. Nov. 14, 2020, to the grocery store, 115 Sibley Street, in north Hammond. The crash was caught on video. Hancock hit Fanslau as she was driving toward the exit. She got out, looked at him, then took off. A witness tried to follow Hancock, but couldn't keep up safely when she sped off. Investigators traced her through the vehicle, her sister's, and her debit card that she just used to buy groceries. When police first interviewed her, she claimed she didn't remember the crash. None of Fanslau's relatives were able to attend Tuesday's hearing. Tessie Jackson, Hancock's daughter, asked for leniency, saying her mother 'never meant for anything like this to happen.' Lanham asked for a split sentence, with two years each in Lake County Community Corrections and probation. Fanslau would have died if she had stayed. Leaving was the 'bad decision,' she said. Her criminal history was before 2001. As she noted Fanslau's son, who made the call to take him off life support forgave her, Hancock started to briefly wail. Did the family want jail time, Bokota asked. No, they felt it was a hardship on her family, Lanham replied. Defense lawyer Lonnie Randolph II said it was 'very unfortunate' and 'sad.' Hancock was a 'law-abiding' person. She was 'someone who just panicked,' he said. 'I don't know if there's a plan B for (the boy),' he said. Randolph thanked Fanslau's family, noting their mercy was still relatively rare. Hancock told the court she thought about what happened constantly. If it had been her son, 'I would want somebody to stay there and hold his hand,' she said. 'This family has forgiven you,' Bokota told her. 'Your challenge going forward is to forgive yourself.' mcolias@
