The Benton County Corrections Department offers 3 alternatives to traditional jail time. The first, is a type of voluntary diversion program for pre-trial defendants. With the approval of the court, some defendants are able to enter into a Stipulated Order of Continuance (SOC) Work Crew program. This allows the opportunity to be held accountable by the courts, without being incarcerated, while performing a valuable community service.
The remaining two programs are our traditional Work Crew and Work Release programs. Both of these programs require that the defendant be sentenced, and the Judgement and Sentence document must clearly authorize work crew or work release. Each program has its own eligibility requirement, which must be met even if the court has authorized work crew or work release. If a defendant is authorized work crew or work release in the sentencing documents but fails to meet the eligibility requirements for the program, then they must serve their sentence in traditional jail.
