DA Secures Funding For New Tuscaloosa County 'Second Chance' Diversion Program

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The Tuscaloosa County Commission on Wednesday approved two years worth of funding from the American Rescue Plan to partially finance a new pre-trial diversion program aimed at helping low-level offenders avoid felony or misdemeanor convictions on their record.

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District Attorney Hays Webb said the need for a new diversion program came after funding ran out for the Tuscaloosa County Diversion Program. For the now-defunct program, the Commission and the University of Alabama would both provide $250,000 a year, Webb said, before the program ultimately was incapable of supporting itself financially and ceased operations in 2021.

"So, what we've done is built something in a different fashion," Webb explained, before mentioning that the costs per participant in the program had been calculated in order to map out funding.

The Commission ultimately approved a total of $87, 333.34 in funding for two years, which will cover two-thirds of the annual salary of an Indian Rivers employee, who will serve as a kind of case manager for those looking to go through the program.

"And instead of asking for money from outside, our primary partner is going to be Community Corrections," Webb said. "We and they are going to be paid by the program participants ... Without the payment of the participants in the program, we will not have a program. Because our office is dedicating a staff person and portion of a lawyer to this, Community Corrections is dedicating a person to this program and, again, both of our agencies have agreed to be paid as we go, whereas Indian Rivers, being a state agency, says they cannot provide the level of service that is needed that we need them to provide, without having a dedicated person."

The diversion court is overseen by retired Judge John England, who serves in a volunteer capacity and has been integral in the evolution of the county's approach to handling lower level offenders.

Webb went on to mention that, in the past, one of the biggest barriers for participation in the diversion program has been the fees. This led him to reach out to both Shelton State Community College's Ready to Work program and the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama.

In essence, the program will be split into two tracts, Webb said, with one being the straightforward payment route, while the other will be a community-service, job-training option for those unable to afford fees or who wish to better themselves following a run-in with the law.

"In the past, it's been a barrier to indigent defendant's ability to get a dismissal," Webb said. "These are people who would be employable. Let us deal with them, put them in the Ready to Work program and when they get out, they will be guaranteed a good paying job in our community. I'm especially pleased with that aspect."

When asked about the case load this new program could expect, Webb said after considering the numbers for other comparable circuit courts, he anticipates about 10% of Tuscaloosa County offenders would be eligible for the program.

"We figure we will have a couple of hundred people of our 2,000 unique felony defendants per year [eligible for the program]," he said. "So, 200 people on average per year is what I'm figuring. Dozens, I would say, would be in need of the heightened sort of mental health services."

As an added bonus, Webb also mentioned that the University of Alabama's School of Criminology had reached out about the program with the desire to study recidivism rates to then help fine-tune the county's diversion offerings.

The funding request passed with the unanimous support of the Commission, with Webb instructed to report back in six months with an update on the progress of the program.

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