NORWICH – The average stay last year in the Chenango County jail for a prisoner awaiting sentencing was 25.8 days.

There are also more individuals waiting to be sentenced at any point in time than there are those serving time. For the month of July 2010, for example, 59 percent of the inmates in the lock up were unsentenced versus 41 percent who were convicted.

The New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services’ would like to see the percentages reversed, said Chenango County Probation Department Director Laureen Clark.

“It would be interesting to see what type of prisoners are in there waiting,” she said, adding that the numbers could include repeat offenders and those farmed in from other counties.

The statistics were made available as part of an 11-page state grant application for Probation’s Alternatives To Incarceration plan, also known as the specialized drug and alcohol Treatment Court.

Thirty-one offenders received drug and alcohol treatment services last year compared to 29 in 2009, the latter being the year of fewest new referrals since the program’s inception in 2006. But even though the number participating Treatment Court increased slightly over the previous year, only six participants successfully completed treatment as opposed to 14 who were graduated in 2009.