The Metro Spirit recently told you about the high fees that people on probation for minor crimes must pay to Sentinel Offender Services, a private California firm contracting with Richmond County to provide probation services.
Yet the contract with Sentinel has never been put out for bid. In Atlanta, when bids were let another firm came in that charged about 70 percent less for some services. That story was called "Making crime pay."
Now Sentinel is has been ordered to pay a fine because of actions it took in the Atlanta area. As Fox 5 News in Atlanta reported, the State Probation Council fined Sentinel after it was caught sending people to an uncertified DUI school.
The school was run by another employee of Sentinel. The probationer in the report paid $1,500 for the classes.
"He was buying nothing," a state official said. Yet Sentinel and the employee were making money.
Since our report, no action has been taken by officials in Augusta to investigate Sentinel's operations in Richmond County. In Clayton County, it appears, leaders are more responsive to complaints about the treatment of people on probation.
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