Carbon County was awarded nearly $11,000 to help continue its Restrictive Intermediate Punishment program.

During the county commissioners' meeting on Thursday, the board voted to approve the letter of award from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency for match-free funds in the amount of $10,888.The money will be used for purchasing three replacement home monitoring ankle bracelets, supplies and daily monitoring fees. Currently the county has about 15 units for the program.The RIP program allows the courts to sentence offenders with minimal crimes, such as second and third DUI offenses, to the home electronic monitoring program instead of prison.The program also helps save the county money by keeping minimal offenders out of the prison. Daily housing costs for an inmate is $60 to $70 a day, while it costs the county less than $10 a day to monitor a person in the program.In 2014, the county was awarded $10,635 in state funding to help continue the program operations.In other matters, the commissioners approved a revised award letter from PCCD on Carbon County's application for the re-entry project study funding in the amount of $10,000.The change is for the effective dates. The new study period will be from May 1, 2015, through March 31, 2016.The grant will allow the county to investigate to see if starting a re-entry program for inmates leaving incarceration will be possible in the county.