1. A. Public Service Work is defined as the placement of qualifying convicted offenders in unpaid positions with non-profit or tax-supported agencies to perform a specified number of hours of work or service within a given time limit as a condition of probation or suspension of sentence.

2. B. Criteria for Participation

   1. 1. Legal Criteria

      1. (a) The Courts of General Sessions may require up to five hundred hours of public service employment as a condition of probation or as a condition of suspension of sentence pursuant to Section 24-23-115 and Section 24-21-430. A Family Court also may require adults who violate an order of that Court to perform public service work, not to exceed three hundred hours under Section 20-7-1350. As the agency designated by law to provide community supervision to adult offenders on probation or parole, the Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services, hereafter referred to as “DPPPS”, has the authority to supervise all adult offenders placed on public service employment as long as the following conditions exist:

         1. (1) The offender’s probation order by the appropriate court must specify public service employment as a condition of probation as part of the offender’s original sentence or in lieu of revocation of sentence.
         2. (2) The offender must be under the jurisdiction of the Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services.
      2. (b) Magistrates and Municipal Courts may require public service work as a condition of suspension of sentence, not to exceed fifty hours pursuant to Section 24-23-115. Such courts will maintain authority for supervision of offenders within their jurisdiction who are ordered to perform public service work.

   2. 2. Exclusionary Criteria

      1. (a) Individuals convicted of committing the following offenses are not eligible for placement by a Court on public service work:

         1. (1) Murder
         2. (2) Kidnapping
         3. (3) Voluntary Manslaughter
         4. (4) Assault and Battery With Intent to Kill
         5. (5) Criminal Sexual Conduct in the First Degree and Second Degree
         6. (6) Armed Robbery
         7. (7) Arson in the First Degree
         8. (8) Trafficking in Drugs Pursuant to Section 44-53-370(e)
         9. (9) Burglary in the First Degree and Burglary in the Second Degree under Section 16-11-312(B)
      2. (b) Offenders who have chronic histories of drug and/or alcohol abuse who could endanger others will not be placed on the public service employment program.
      3. (c) All offenders within the jurisdiction of magistrates and municipal courts shall be considered for acceptance into public service work programs. Offenders who have known histories of drug/alcohol abuse will be screened by the Court to minimize the risk of placing offenders in public service work programs who could endanger others in the performance of their volunteer work.

3. C. Work-Site Criteria

   1. (1) The DPPPS limits the selection of public service work-sites to public agencies defined as units of state, federal or municipal government, private non-profit entities, and charitable or service organizations. The DPPPS prohibits the use of profit-making agencies, private businesses, or proprietary agencies as part of the public service employment program. The DPPPS certifies each work-site by requiring a memorandum of agreement to be signed by DPPPS staff and the work-site representative outlining the responsibilities of the DPPPS and the work-site. The DPPPS also requires that the work-site provide a job description, outlining the specific job tasks of offenders performing public service work at that work-site.
   2. (2) Magistrates and municipal courts will limit their selection of work-sites to public agencies defined as units of government, private non-profit entities, and charitable or service organizations. Profit-making agencies and/or private businesses will not be recruited as work-sites. Work-sites may be required to provide job descriptions to specify the tasks offenders will be performing at any given work-site.
   3. (3) The DPPPS may share work-sites with magistrates or municipal courts as long as the work-site remains in compliance with DPPPS certification as a work-site.

4. D. Implementation of Public Service Work

   1. (1) The DPPPS will employ Public Service Employment Coordinators who will screen and place offenders ordered to perform public service work and monitor their performance of work contracts. These Coordinators will mail a letter to work-sites as notification of an offender’s possible assignment and forward a time sheet to the work-site supervisor to aid in recording and verifying offender work-hours. When an offender is terminated from his public service work, either successfully or unsuccessfully, the Coordinator will prepare a termination report detailing the circumstances of the termination. Coordinators will be responsible for maintaining the day-to-day operations of the public service employment program and will maintain close contact with circuit court judges and other court staff to facilitate proper compliance with court-ordered public service work. In county offices where sentencing volume does not justify the placement of a Coordinator, Regional Coordinators will assist supervising agents in the placement and monitoring of offenders. The direct supervision of offenders placed at work-sites is the responsibility of the supervisor designated by the work-site.
   2. (2) All offenders who receive an order to complete public service work as part of a suspension of sentence out of magistrates or municipal courts shall be screened by a Court staff-designee for placement in an appropriate work-site. The offender will be required to sign a defendant agreement which specifies his responsibilities in performing public service work. The Court staff-designee will determine the most appropriate placement for the offender and will mail a placement notification and termination report to the work-site. The work-site supervisor will return a copy of the placement notification to the Court to verify the offender’s placement and will also forward a copy of the termination report to the Court when the offender is terminated, successfully or unsuccessfully, from the work-site. The termination report will include a verified time log which records the number of work-hours performed, as well as an evaluation of the offender’s public service work. The Court staff-designee will record the work-site placements of all defendants on an appropriate ledger, with expected termination dates, to verify the performance of public service work.

Statutory Authority

1976 Code Section 24-23-115