Inmates are eligible for the CCC if they are (1) classified as minimum-security offenders with a commitment not to exceed 1 year, (2) recommended by the sentencing judge for the CCC, and (3) a resident of the Washington, D.C, metropolitan area. There were 34 inmates incarcerated and then released to CCC from March 1983 through February 1984. The typical inmate was 32 years old, black, single, male, with at least a high school education, and little or no prior criminal history. Most were employed at arrest and had been convicted of traffic offenses and drug-related or white-collar crimes. All but seven of these inmates kept their jobs or found jobs during commitment to the CCC. Two were full-time students, and the remaining five were eventually transferred to a prison as program failures. Inmates participated in community service projects and were actively involved in drug or alcohol abuse, job training, and life skills programs. In most cases the CCC was serving as an alternative to incarceration, although some inmates may have been diverted from probation. The CCC's cost effectiveness over incarceration is uncertain at this early stage. While the CCC began slowly, judges now perceive it as a credible alternative and are using the program more. Accountability is built into the CCC through a system of increasingly severe sanctions and a weekly urinalysis program. There was only one instance of criminal behavior by a program resident during the first year of operation. A chart and three references are supplied.