Alternative Services

Responsibilities

The Gunnison County Alternative Services Department administers the useful public service, also known as community service, for:

• Gunnison and Hinsdale County 7th Judicial District courts
• Gunnison and Hinsdale County courts
• Gunnison, Crested Butte, and Mt. Crested Butte municipal courts
• Supervises Useful public service referrals from other Colorado counties
• Supervises out-of-state defendants, provided they pay the required useful public service fees

Programs & Services

The Gunnison County Alternative Services Department solicits, registers, trains, monitors, and assesses Gunnison and Hinsdale County non-profit agencies for work-site placement of defendants.

Gunnison County Alternative Services participates and works in cooperation with the Colorado Alternative Sentencing Program (CASP).

Useful Public Service

Alternative Services is notified by participating courts when useful public service has been ordered as part of a defendant's sentencing. The department then:

• Registers, tracks, and records defendants
• Assigns defendants to non-profit work-sites
• Monitors progress
• Reports back to the sentencing court on the defendant's satisfactory completion or non-compliance with the conditions of sentencing

Collected Fees

Under Colorado statute, all fees collected by alternative services are used to defray costs of personal services and and other operating expenses related directly to the administration of the useful public service program.