On most days, social service worker Lita Meza can be found in her Toyota Prius transporting her clients from Riverside County’s jails to outside rehabilitation programs all over Southern California. For 16 years, she has been the force behind the Alternative Sentencing Program run out of the Riverside County Public Defender’s Office.

“Lita changes lives every day,” said Riverside County Public Defender Steve Harmon. “I would go further and say Lita saves lives every day. She takes people who would still be in jail and who would, when they get out, never make it to a program. She gets them to a program.”

Meza is a one-person team who takes client referrals only from attorneys in the Public Defender’s office. The clients at that point have been charged, but not officially sentenced. If the clients are accepted into a program, their participation becomes part of the sentencing.

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