On Monday the Marshall County Commissioners approved the recommendation of Judge Dean Colvin to appoint Ward Byers as the county’s first Director of Operations for the Community Correction Program.
As the size and cost of jails and prisons have grown, so too has the awareness that public investment in incarceration has not yielded the expected return on public safety.
Most of the counties in Indiana have already made the move to shift the burden from institutional to community corrections, sending greater numbers of offenders to supervision agencies with heightened expectations of success but often without the additional resources necessary to do the job.
Judge Colvin said, “This is a historical moment for the development of the Community Corrections Program in Marshall County.” After opening the application process to select the director and conducting interviews the Community Corrections Board selected Byers as the best candidate for the position. Byers’ new position begins January 1st.
The Court Services Program that has been in Marshall County for years will melt into the Community Corrections program. The home detention and (MCDAP) Marshall County Drug Addiction Program will still be offered in the county.
