GOSHEN — The Elkhart County Community Corrections agency received another $1.2 million grant from the Indiana Department of Correction to help keep people out of the state’s prison system.

The grant, which kicks in July 1, is the third in a row of $1,226,501 for the local program, according to Amy Lanum, spokeswoman for the DOC.

According to Judge Stephen Bowers of Elkhart Superior Court 2, “ECCC was given a level one rating indicative of the high level of implementation of evidence-based practices in our county community corrections programs.”

Bowers, head of the local Community Corrections Advisory Board, said, “The community-correction program here in Elkhart County is one of the largest in the state of Indiana. More importantly, it is one of the leading programs” in keeping people out of the DOC and the county jail “by providing an alternative to straight incarceration, thus saving the taxpayers large sums of money.”

The ECCC program handles the county’s work-release center, the home-detention program, the community-oriented work program and, for the DOC, handles the community-transition program, which helps people coming out of prison transition back to community life, according to Bowers.

They also work with the Center for Community Justice and with Bashor Children’s Home on various programs, according to the grant application. ECCC director Tara Boocher didn’t return messages left over several days seeking details on the programs and finances.

The county’s received more than $5.3 million in grants from the DOC over the last five years, according to Lanum.

The grant covers more than half of ECCC’s annual costs, according to the grant application.