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ELKINS -- The Randolph County Community Corrections program boasts higher numbers this fiscal year, and the program is set to receive a $100,000 grant.
During the June 12 County Commission meeting, the North Central Community Corrections' (NCCC) Randolph County office reported that the number of people who have completed the program this fiscal year is the highest it has been since before the pandemic.
"Looking at our numbers, this fiscal year has been the highest number of full participants complete our program since prior to COVID," said Erin Golden, regional director of the Randolph County office. "People are doing really, really well."
As of June 12, 112 participants in Randolph County had completed the NCCC's program. The 2022-2023 fiscal year only saw 97 complete the program and the 2021-2022 fiscal year saw 103. The highest amount of completions the program has seen in the past seven fiscal years was 120 in 2020-2021.
As of June 12, a total number of 116 offenders were in the NCCC's system. Of those offenders, 17 are full participants and 95 are participating as a condition of their bond.
According to the NCCC's website, the program's ultimate goal is "providing offenders with the necessary structure and guidance to lead a productive and healthy lifestyle, for those offenders to be released from incarceration, and to provide a smooth transition into the community."
The number of drug screenings conducted by the Randolph office this year was also at a record high with 3,233 administered tests. In the early days of the program in Randolph County, the number of screenings was below 1,000 from 2005, when the program started, to 2012. The past seven fiscal years have only seen the number of drug screenings reach the mid 2,000s.
The number of positive tests this year was also the lowest it had been since 2018-2019, with 269 positives. 2018-2019 had 261 positives; however. only 2,001 tests had been administered overall that fiscal year.
All of this comes as Randolph County is set to receive a large Community Corrections grant. On June 22, Gov. Jim Justice announced he had awarded $5,532,553 in West Virginia Community Corrections Grant program funds to 30 projects statewide. Randolph County will receive $100,000 of that funding.
"We appreciate how much support the governor gives us," Golden told The Inter-Mountain. "We're very happy. He's given this amount the last few years and it really encourages us that he values that work we put into the program."
According to the NCCC website the program "continues to seek and provide additional services to better guide their offender population into a society without crime."