Paul Leavy/The Valdosta Daily Times The rear of the Valdosta Diversion Center showing the basketball court and rear of the building housing the classrooms and common areas.

VALDOSTA —Five years after the start of construction on the facility, the Valdosta Transition Center has finally begun operation.

The 100-bed facility will house Valdosta State Prison inmates on a work-release program. The individuals selected have no past disciplinary problems with two years or less left on their sentence, according to Department of Corrections Public Affairs Manager Paul Czachowski.

After a four-week indoctrination, the inmates will be allowed to seek unsupervised employment in the community. The inmates will still be on “lock-down” overnight, with the exception of those who work evening shifts. The money they earn goes to a small room-and-board fee, restitution, child support and other necessary fees.

Statistically, those who re-enter society through transition centers have a significantly lower rate of returning to the prison system than those who re-enter directly from prison.

“This 30 year-old program has proven to be very successful,” Czachowski said. “It allows individuals to return to society with a small nest egg to regain their lives when they get out.”

Unused since its completion in 2004, the hold up in the Gil Harbin Industrial Boulevard facility’s opening has kept the city questioning reasons for the delay. A Valdosta Daily Times article from 2005 recognized lack of state operational funds as the problem.

At one point, a Valdosta-born minister proposed that the center be used as a Valdosta-based Restoration House in a letter written to then-Rep. Ron Borders. The house would provide shelter for young men in search of ways to improve their lives through skills such as construction, masonry, roofing or computer technology.

Now that the wait is over, the Valdosta Transition Center, which was originally a diversion center yet had a mission change, can become a productive part of the community. The center will employ 21 full-time staff members and is slated to be fully operational by Oct. 31.

Czachowski reported that start-up costs for the transition center were approximately $285,000. Tommy Fountain is the unit manager of the facility.