Referral Program for Misdemeanors Working Out Fine : Justice: Santa Ana gets needed work done and saves $100,000, and the 324 lawbreakers serve their time outside.

A 16-year-old Santa Ana boy got up early Saturday morning to paint fences. With the sun beaming down, he stroked away at the wooden fences and stone walls, covered with graffiti and gang markings, that line a 4 1/2-mile bike path.

Unlike many 16-year-olds who would scoff at spending their weekend in the summer heat, painting, this teen-ager seemed to be enjoying himself. For him, the alternative was to spend a few days in jail.

“They lock me up if I don’t do this,” he said, taking a brief break from his brush work. “This is a lot better than doing time.”

Convicted of theft charges, the youth was eight hours shy of completing his sentence of performing 40 hours of community service.

He was but one in a crew of 18 “community service employees” assigned Saturday to paint over the graffiti covering the walls lining the bike path between Hobart Street and Edinger Avenue. The cleanup effort is part of a Santa Ana court’s referral program that allows some defendants found guilty of misdemeanors to forgo jail terms by performing community work instead.

City officials say the program, the only one of its kind in Orange County, has 324 participants and has saved Santa Ana more than $100,000 in its first six months of operation.

“We provide an alternative to spending time in jail,” said City Councilman Miguel Pulido at an informal press conference. “And the program enables us to do a lot more than we could do with city dollars.”

For instance, Pulido said, the city is saving $45,000 by using community service employees to maintain the Regional Transportation Center on East Santa Ana Boulevard instead of contracting a company to do the work. They perform such duties as shampooing rugs and landscaping that were previously contracted out.

The community service employees are also assigned to other city departments and facilities, including the library, the Santa Ana Zoo, the Fire Department and the Parks Department.

The length of the sentence, which varies by judge and crime committed, has ranged from a low of 24 hours of community service to a high of 650 hours, said coordinator Belam Padilla, who is in charge of the program’s day-to-day activities.

Before receiving an assignment, workers are required to attend an orientation session to acquaint them with the program and city policies, Padilla said.

“A lot of them come in with a negative attitude but leave with a more positive one after orientation,” she said, noting that the session is also a screening process.

“If they come to the orientation intoxicated, we will not allow them to participate,” she said. “And we check to see if they have any prior affiliation with gangs so we don’t assign them to the wrong neighborhood to remove graffiti.”

Participants are also required to report on time and work at least one day per week until their sentence is completed. While working, they are not allowed to smoke, have visitors or use profanity.

The city works closely with the county Probation Department and community organizations, such as Turning Point and the Volunteer Center, to place court referrals in suitable departments. Padilla said each department using court referrals is monitored daily to ensure that there are no problems and that the work being performed is satisfactory.

Pulido said the program has been in the works for more than two years but was delayed while insurance, legal and other concerns were addressed. For insurance purposes, the participants are designated as temporary city employees but are allowed to perform only such activities as collecting trash, filing and mopping to minimize the possibility of accidents.

Once defendants have completed their required hours with the city, they receive letters signed by the mayor thanking them for their work, Padilla said.