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Mesa County Community Corrections – How it works

Mesa County Community Corrections is a Colorado diversion program that allows you to work a job and learn life skills instead of serving a prison sentence. By maintaining employment, you will be earning money to pay your
  • court fines,
  • restitution,
  • treatment costs,
  • child support,
  • medical expenses, and
  • room and board.
In community correction, you typically begin in the heavily monitored residential program, where you live in a dormitory with other defendants. Then, if you do well, you are allowed to move into an independent living apartment (ILA) and eventually your own home for the remainder of the program.1

How do I qualify for community corrections in Mesa County?

If you are convicted of a felony in the 21st Judicial District Court, you can ask your private attorneys or public defender about getting a referral to community corrections. You may be referred to community corrections by the probation department right after sentencing (“diversion offenders”). You may serve a portion of your prison sentence before the Department of Corrections (DOC) refers you to community corrections (“transition offenders”). The Mesa County Community Corrections Board (MCCCB)‘s Adult Review Committee decides who gets accepted into community corrections.2

What is the residential program like?

In community corrections, you live in heavily monitored sex-segregated dormitories. You can leave during the day for work but have to return after work and abide by house rules. Rules on everything from hygiene and laundry duties to phone time and lights-out are highly enforced. You have a case manager to
  • supervise you,
  • monitor your progress, and
  • assess your needs.
In addition to working (usually at a manual labor job), you are expected to complete and attend all required treatments such as rehab and substance abuse counseling.4

What is the non-residential program like?

If you progress in the residential program, you may be moved into an ILA (Independent Living Apartment). At any time there are 30 to 40 residents. (Sex offenders and serious violent offenders are not allowed into the ILA program.) As a resident, you must
  • pay rent,
  • stay sober,
  • abide by a curfew,
  • keep the apartment tidy, and
  • have all visitors approved.
Twice a day, staff with the Mesa County CJSD (Criminal Justice Services Department) check each apartment. The final step of community corrections is for you to move into your own home. However, community corrections staff will continue to conduct checks at your home and place of employment and will monitor your finances. Also, you are required to check in with staff regularly. Depending on the case, if you are in the non-residential program, you may have to wear an electronic monitoring anklet and abide by a curfew. You must also submit to drug tests, which may consist of:
    • Breathalyzers;
    • Urinalysis; and/or
    • Eye scans.
You must also continue to attend required support groups and outpatient treatment services for as long as the community corrections program lasts.5
Man working the field in an agriculture job
Mesa County Community Corrections participants get to work a full-time job during the day.

What if I break a rule?

If you violate the rules of community corrections, you are entitled to a hearing with the CJSD’s formal hearing board. However, you are not entitled to an attorney at this hearing.

If the board finds you guilty, it can impose sanctions. In the most serious cases, you can be remanded to prison to serve out your sentence.6

Where is Community Corrections?

The Mesa County CJSD Residential Services program is located in the Powell Building 650 South Avenue, Grand Junction, CO, 81501. The phone number is (970) 244-3301. And the CJSD’s Non-Residential Services program is located in the Bridger Building at 636 South Avenue, Grand Junction, CO 81501. The phone number is (970) 244-3446. The mailing address for both the Residential and Non-Residential programs is Community Corrections Board, P.O. Box 20,000, Grand Junction, CO 81502-5018.7

Helpful Links

Legal References

  1. Community Corrections, Mesa County.
  2. Same. Mesa County Community Corrections Board.
  3. Same. Residential Services, Mesa County.
  4. Same. Non-Residential Community Corrections, Mesa County. Independent Living Apartments, Mesa County. See also People v. Triplett (Court of Appeals of Colorado, Division A, 2016) 411 P.3d 1054 (“Triplett had no reasonable expectation of privacy in his clothing while in the confines of his residential community corrections detention facility…his status as a resident in community corrections is…more analogous to that of an incarcerated DOC inmate than that of an offender on probation or parole.”). See also People v. Sloan (Court of Appeals of Colorado, Division Five, 2000) 3 P.3d 497 (“Because defendant was not in confinement, she is not entitled to receive credit against her sentence for the period she was at liberty pending the disposition of her appeal”).
  5. See note 1.
  6. Criminal Justice Services, Mesa County. See also People v. Harrison (Court of Appeals of Colorado, Division Two, 1989) 771 P.2d 23 (“[W]hen community corrections placement is revoked because of the commission of a subsequent criminal offense, the prosecution shall have the burden of proving the commission of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt if conviction for the offense has not yet taken place.”).

About the Author

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Michael Becker

Michael Becker has over a quarter-century's worth of experience as an attorney and more than 100 trials under his belt. He is a sought-after legal commentator and is licensed to practice law in Colorado, Nevada, California, and Florida.

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