SUSSEX VIOLATION OF PROBATION CENTER - Delaware

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SUSSEX VIOLATION OF PROBATION CENTER

Route 6, Box 700
Georgetown, DE 19947
(302) 856-5790

Warden: Robert George

The Sussex Violation of Probation Center(SVOP) is a 250-bed Level IV (4) facility in Georgetown, Delaware. SVOP opened in November 1999. SVOP currently houses male and female offenders. Male and female offenders are segregated.

The Sussex Violation of Probation Center is a new concept in Delaware corrections. The SVOP is the first of two Violation of Probation Centers to open in the State. The other is the Central Violation of Probation Center near Smyrna, Delaware. The Violation of Probation Centers are not prisons. They are Level IV (4) facilities. Level IV facilities are transition units or programs - housing offenders who are preparing to return to the community full-time. Level IV housing means work release, residential drug treatment (Crest), home confinement or violation of probation custody. The Violation of Probation Centers house primarily offenders who have violated the terms of their probation. These "rule breakers" have not committed any crimes during their probation in the community. They have committed "technical" violations that could include failing to report to their probation officer, changing residence without notifying their probation officer, failing a drug test or failing to abide by a curfew. The Department of Correction believes such violations warrant brief periods of incarceration. The Sussex Violation of Probation Center provides a military-style, highly regimented program of discipline, behavior modification and community service in a stark, no-frills environment. Offenders rise daily at 5 a.m. for community service or institutional assignments. Work includes maintaining their personal living space, cleaning the common areas of the facility and working in the kitchen. Offenders also participate in community service projects that benefit towns, churches, non-profit organizations, American Legions, senior and recreation centers, schools and cemeteries. In Fiscal Year 2001 (July 1, 2000-June 30, 2001), offenders from the Sussex Violation of Probation Center performed 130,013 hours of community service.

Time spent at a Violation of Probation Center gives offenders a chance to adjust their attitudes and change their behaviors so they are better able to abide by the terms of their probation once released back to the community. Additionally, a Violation of Probation Center is a more appropriate correctional placement for these offenders. The VOP Center keeps violators from being returned to a prison population where more serious offenders are housed. This frees up more higher security beds for more serious offenders.

The SVOP offers other treatment and programs to supplement the Crest program. These programs include Bible study, parenting classes, Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. The CVOP is planning on bringing more programs on-line in the future.

Bob George is the Warden of the Sussex Violation of Probation Center.

Inmate Mail Address

Inmate Name
Sussex Community Corrections Center
Rt. 6 Box 700
Georgetown, DE 19947