Impact Georgia, Mar. 2008

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

Page 1

News and Facts to Keep You Informed - March 2008

"Faster. Friendlier. Easier."
Mission
The Georgia Department of Corrections protects and serves the public as a professional organiza-
tion by effectively managing offenders while helping to provide a safe and secure environment for the citizens of Georgia.
Vision
The Georgia Department of Corrections is the best
corrections system in the nation at protecting
the citizens from convicted offenders and at providing effective opportunities for offenders to achieve positive change. We are a leader and partner in making Georgia a safer, healthier, better educated, growing and
best managed state.

Middle Georgia Technical College Partners with Corrections for CDL Training
As part of a vocational training contract with the Georgia Department of Corrections, Middle Georgia Technical College is helping to provide a Commercial Truck Driving (CDL) class at the 7 Pre- Release Centers (PRC) recently opened by the Georgia Department of Corrections. Pre-Release Centers are designed to help better prepare inmates for their transition back into the community. The CDL initiative is voluntary and requires that the trained offender agree to repay the cost of training. The CDL pilot started February 13, 2008 at Long PRC in Ludiwici Georgia.
The goal of the CDL course is to train as many qualified offenders as possible for careers in the Trucking Industry. The program will be offered to inmates in all Pre- Release Centers and Transitional Centers.
"Approximately 99% of offenders who enter prison will eventually be released back to the community," stated Commissioner James E. Donald. "Research shows that offenders who have vocational job training are better prepared to reenter society and are more successful in maintaining a crime-free life after prison."
The participants must have impeccable institutional performance and conduct records, meet all Department of Driving Services requirements for licensing and agree to repay training costs. Graduates of the program will be licensed CDL drivers, and upon transferring to a Transitional Center, will begin employment and repay the cost of training, prior to their eventual release date.

Core Goal
A Safer, Healthier, Better Educated Growing, and Best Managed Georgia

The 18 wheeler used for training was donated by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office from a recent drug seizure. Students will complete 3 courses, Fundamentals of Commercial Truck Driving, Basic Operation of a CMV, and Advanced Operation of a CMV. The course will last 8 weeks. It will consist of 8 hours of classroom instruction and a total of 175 hours on the road or on the driving range.

Core Organizational
Principles
Value Based: Stewards of the Public
Trust
Embrace Change: Change, Transformation is
inevitable
Business Acumen: Better Business Practice
A Learning Organization: People are the Centerpiece

Special Reminder:
NOBTS
GDC is pleased to announce the creation of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) Leavell College Extension Center at Phillips State Prison in Buford, Georgia, beginning March 3, 2008. Classes will be offered in a repeating two or four-year cycle of courses. Inmates can enter the cycle at any point and graduate in either two years with an Associate degree or four years with a Bachelor degree, both in Christian Ministry. Thirty applicants will be chosen for the initial class and the inmate must volunteer to apply for admission to the college program. The program will offer the opportunity for inmates to earn a college degree while incarcerated, and return to their communities with that college degree in their hands which will open doors to a future vastly different from their past.

Continuation . . .

Page 2

News and Facts to Keep You Informed - March 2008

SPECIAL KUDOS Gwinnett Probation Circuit wins "Pea-Picking" Award

SAVE THE DATE

Pictured: Brian Owens, Assistant Commissioner, Sandra Thomas, Gwinnett Circuit Chief, Sonya Baker, CS Coordinator, Arnie DePetro, Corrections Division Director, Michael Nail, Corrections Deputy Division Director

Forsythia Festival
March 7-9, 2008
March 7th-Golf Tournament 12:00 pm
March 8th-5K & Fun Run 8:00 am
March 8th-VIP Tour, Tift College Campus 10:00 am
March 8th-Public Tour, Tift College Campus 2:00 pm
March 8th-Oral Recorded Testimonials 11:30 am
March 8th-Recruitment, Health & Wellness, Public Affairs Booth 10:00 am-5:00 pm March 8th-Arts & Crafts Fair 10:00 am-6:00 pm March 9th-Arts & Crafts Fair 12:00 pm-5:00 pm

This project was done for the Cedar Hill Elementary School in Gwinnett: 30 Probationers painted 4,000 feet of colored striping and painted 9 bathrooms with the accent wall coloring or striping. This project allows students who do not know English and/ or who may be learning disabled to follow the color striping to the correct bathrooms and homerooms assigned to them. The school furnished the paint and the Probation Office furnished the labor with CS Workers. The total value to the school was about $3,750.00. Sonya has a great relationship with the area schools and she was able to save the school system and therefore the taxpayers by helping out with this worthwhile project.

Circuit of the Year Award, Best Overall Circuit went to the Douglas Circuit.
Pictured above: Michael Nail, Corrections Deputy Division Director, Arnie DePetro, Corrections Division Director, Rita Denson, CS Coordinator, Eric Gay, Douglas Circuit Chief, Brian Owens, Assistant Commissioner

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at

Athens Day Reporting Center

Visit our website at www.dcor.state.ga.us
Commissioner: James E. Donald
Public Affairs Director:
Susan Phillips
Acting Managing Editor:
Nancy F. Phillips
Photographers/contributors:
Paul Czachowski Mallie McCord Susan Phillips
Please direct comments or questions to:
Office of Public Affairs 2 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. East Tower, Suite 864 Atlanta, Georgia 30334
Phone: 404-656-9772 Fax: 404-656-6434 Email: GDCinfo@dcor.state.ga.us

As part of Commissioner Donald's Transformation Plan, GDC dedicated a new Day Reporting Center in Athens with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday, February 26, 2008.
The day reporting centers (DRCs) offer an alternative to prison for those offenders on probation who have violated the terms of their supervision by using drugs, failing to work or failing to advance their education. DRCs address restitution, restoration and rehabilitation of probationers. Offenders in the program are required to spend all day at the center receiving drug treatment, cognitive skills classes and job skills training. After one month, the offenders are required to work during the day and report to the center in the evening. The program lasts nine months and the Athens DRC is the sixth center to open.
Commissioner Donald attended Tuesday's ceremony along with state and local leadership. "Day Reporting Centers help to rehabilitate offenders in four key areas that lead to crime-substance abuse, education, employment and accountability for their actions," stated Commissioner James E. Donald. "These centers will close the gap in the state's criminal justice system."