Sussex Community Corrections Center

The Sussex Community Corrections Center (SCCC) consists of the following components:

• The Crest Substance Abuse Treatment Program
• The Sussex Work Release Center
• Sussex Violation of Probation Center

The Sussex Community Corrections Center is located in Georgetown, Delaware. Each facility and program is classified as Level IV. Sussex currently accommodates male and female offenders in each of its programs.

Sussex Work Release Center (SWRC)

Work Release is a transition program for offenders preparing to live in the community full-time. Work release is a program in which offenders seek employment, attend outside medical appointments, and participate in mandated treatment programs. Offenders return to the facility at night to sleep. An offender can be ordered by a court to participate in work release or can be classified to the program by the Department. Some offenders come to work release after a prison stay. Some come directly from the community.

Offenders normally stay in work release less than one year with the average stay of four to six months. Work release offenders typically work for private employers and participate in treatment and educational programs. Department officials must approve employers. 

Random substance abuse testing is mandatory for all offenders and continues throughout their stay at SWRC. Offenders must display pro-social behaviors such as honesty, responsibility, and accountability. While employed full-time, offenders must pay a $25 a week room and board fee and pay $25 toward any court obligations that have been imposed.

Sussex Violation of Probation (SVOP) 

Sussex Violation of Probation Center (SVOP) is a 250-bed Level IV facility located in Georgetown, Delaware. SVOP houses male and female offenders separately, and they are 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 Delaware Department of Corrections believes these violations warrant brief periods of incarceration, and SVOP 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, and 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.

Time spent at SVOP 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. SVOP keeps violators from being returned to a prison population where more serious offenders are housed, which frees up higher security beds for more serious offenders.

Prison Insights

Visiting Hours and Rules

The inmates at this facility are on work release and in treatment, so it doesn’t appear that there are any visiting hours at this location.

All mail should be letters, cards, written correspondence, non-Polaroid pictures, or money orders. The following items are not allowed:

• Packages
• Pornography
• Cash
• Stamps
• Tobacco
• Illegal substances

How to Call an Inmate

You can’t call an inmate at Sussex Community Corrections Center, but they can call you collect. For complete details on how to call an inmate in Delaware, please click here.

How to Send Money

In order to send money to an offender at the Sussex Community Corrections Center, you can mail a money order. No personal checks or cash is accepted.

All money orders must include the following information:

• Offender's full name
• Offender's SBI number
• Assigned institution
• Name of the remitter

Money sent to an inmate will be credited to the inmate’s account within 24 hours of receipt.

Programs For Inmates

• Behavioral Health Services

The Sussex Community Corrections Center offers a range of programs and behavioral health services to balance safety and offenders' needs to foster a successful transition from prison to the community. The Department partners with a variety of community providers to address emerging trends in medical care, behavioral health, and support services to address the challenges and concerns experienced by the criminal justice population.

Behavioral Health, under the auspices of the Bureau of Correctional Health Care Services (BCHS), is comprised of mental health care, substance use programming, and sex offender treatment. With the prevalence of offenders diagnosed with mental illness, substance use disorders, and co-occurring disorders, the behavioral health provider conducts screenings and assessments at the time of intake to determine the nature and extent of the individual's needs and required level of care. The screening/assessment process sets the framework to conduct treatment planning throughout the individual's engagement in institutional programming and/or behavioral health care services.

The delivery of services include comprehensive evaluations, individual treatment, group counseling, acute stabilization, psychiatric care, therapeutic communities, medication assisted treatment and discharge, and re-entry services. BCHS is committed to support quality care, successful reintegration, reduce recidivism, and promote public safety through the implementation of evidence based practices that support the offender's transition to a healthy lifestyle in the community.

• CREST

CREST is the second component of Delaware’s substance abuse program. It is based on the therapeutic community model, which allows inmates recovering from substance abuse to continue their treatment while they transition into the community. As a rule, offenders work during the day and return to Sussex at night for therapy, counseling, or treatment. 

The CREST program usually lasts for six months. The first three months are spent entirely at Sussex, where offenders engage in full-time substance abuse treatment. During the next three months, offenders become involved in the work-release portion of the program and go through the following phases:

• Entry, evaluation, and orientation: Offenders get used to life outside of prison.
• Primary: Counselors and offenders explore the challenges and issues faced by individual offenders and prepare appropriate responses to minimize the likelihood of relapse.
• Job-seeking: Offenders develop job seeking and interview skills.
• Work release: Offenders maintain residence at CREST while working in the community

Pictures of Sussex Community Corrections Center

Careers at Sussex Community Corrections Center

The Delaware Department of Correction is the state's largest law enforcement agency. If you are interested in a career at Sussex Community Corrections Center, click here.