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| Georgia inmate transition center opens after long struggle |
| By Augusta Chronicle |
| Published: 10/23/2002 |
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State budget cuts delayed the opening of a $2.5 million halfway home for soon-to-be-paroled prisoners for 10 months, but on Wednesday the Georgia Department of Corrections announced the grand opening of the Augusta Transitional Center on downtown's Taylor Street. The 200-bed center is now 75 percent full and has been designed to ease inmates' transition back into society. Residents hold jobs and pay room and board while living there. 'This is a matter of public safety,' Corrections Commissioner Jim Wetherington said in a prepared statement. 'Transitional centers provide offenders with the skills they will need to become law-abiding members of society.' The center's opening was scheduled for March, but state budget cuts have kept the doors closed in an effort to save on operational expenses. The center's staff of 70 has an annual payroll of about $2.3 million and an operational budget of about $3.3 million. Wednesday's opening marks the end of the state's three-year struggle to bring the facility to Augusta. Since September 1999, the state's efforts have been met with protest from neighboring residents. That outcry prompted Augusta commissioners to create an ordinance that requires transitional centers to obtain special zoning exceptions. The law is designed to make sure residents are notified when controversial facilities are being considered near neighborhoods. 'It's time for it to start benefiting the community,' said Stanley Hawes, the president of the Laney-Walker Neighborhood Association. The corrections department reports that inmates released through transitional centers are 30 percent less likely to be convicted of a new crime than those directly released from prison. Augusta's facility is the seventh to open in the state. |
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