At the Northeast Regional Correctional Facility in St. Johnsbury, Vt., the Caledonia Community Work Camp has been helping rehabilitate offenders since 1993, but the camp's 5-year-old substance use treatment class, the Discovery program, is at risk of losing all federal funding, the Caledonian-Record reported on June 15.

The camp accepts non-violent offenders who are court-recommended to earn the chance to reduce their sentences. Inmates perform repairs and renovations in the surrounding community, garnering praise for the quality of their work.

'They're a really enthusiastic group of guys,' said Sally Chamberlin, pastor of the Congregational Church in Barnet, which is receiving new siding, paint and internal repairs thanks to a crew from the work camp. 'We're just really, really pleased with their work.'

Church volunteers have been showing up every morning to bring the workers coffee and snacks.

'It's a nice little gesture,' said Clyde Bradley, the crew's foreman. Bradley added that the work camp is very important to the inmates. 'If I call in sick, they're mad at me for a week,' he said.

'It's a good system,' said one participant. 'It's as close to the outside as you can get.'

The work camp is the only one of its kind in the state, and Discovery is the state's only residential treatment program.

Federal funding, which used to exceed the program's annual operational costs of $212,000, has now been reduced to $47,000 a year.

Although the state continues to support the program, some fear federal funding will be altogether discontinued next year, damaging the quality of the program.