Featured Program: Operating Under Influence (OUI) in Northern New England
Volunteers of America Northern New England operates a unique restorative justice program in Bath, Maine, for about 70 men and women who are serving their sentences for drunk driving. In most other places, these offenders would have been fined or gone to jail. But in Sagadahoc County, they will be detained at the armory for up to a week. During that time, they will perform needed community services, receive extensive education and substance abuse counseling, and confront the awful consequences of drinking and driving.
“Performing meaningful work for the community is key to the idea of restorative justice,” said June Koegel, president and chief executive officer of Volunteers of America Northern New England. “This program is designed to pay back the offense and to make the community whole again, and to change behaviors so that the individual offender is also restored.”
Volunteers of America Northern New England signed a contract in 1999 to create the only private-provider drunk driver program in Maine. Twice a year, 70 clients from across the state sign on, paying as much as $250 each to attend for the weekend or as much as $350 for the full week. Sagadahoc County also benefits from the community service work. Participants have built a firehouse in Woolwich, refurbished a mill in Richmond and painted schools. The value of all their work through 2002 is about $500,000 and grows as each cohort exits the program.