San Juan County Lieutenant Launches Program Helping Inmates Find Employment

A former Farmington police officer who was arrested for driving drunk with his two children in the vehicle lost his job, went to rehab, and rebuilt his career at the San Juan County Detention Center, where he now runs a program designed to get inmates hired before they ever walk out the door.

Lieutenant Robert Shuttleworth, 31, oversees the Helping Offenders Achieve Purposeful Employment program, known as HOAPE, at the detention center. The program was developed by jail administrator Daniel Webb to connect detainees nearing release with high-paying, full-time jobs in the community through a network of second-chance employers.

"When they are coming up on their release date, they fill out a generic application from second-chance employers," Webb said. "If the employer is interested, the jail facilitates the interview process, as well as any testing that might need to be completed."

The goal is for detainees to leave with something concrete already in place. "The hope is we have job offers prior to release, and an individual knows they show up Monday morning to a well-paying, full-time job," Webb said.

Shuttleworth brings an unusually direct frame of reference to that work. In February 2024, he drove intoxicated with his two children in his vehicle and was arrested, a mistake that ended his career with the Farmington Police Department. He admitted to the charges in court and also completed rehab.

"I was in charge of taking people to jail and investigating crime," he said during a March 17 interview at the detention center. "Then, getting booked in here, it puts a different perspective in your head."

Three months after entering his plea, Shuttleworth applied for a detention officer position at the San Juan County Detention Center, going through the standard hiring process. "I had to apply. I had to interview," he said. He rose to lieutenant within two years.

He said his personal history shapes how he approaches HOAPE participants. "You get booked here and a lot of times you lose your job. I understand the process of being booked in here and the struggles." Shuttleworth, who describes himself as being in the human services business, added: "I can relate to these people on a personal level." He said he did not let his experience define him, and he tells detainees their story does not have to define them either.

HOAPE is still in its early stages, and Webb and Shuttleworth have not yet released figures on participant numbers, employer partnerships, or job placement rates. The program's core mechanics remain straightforward: a generic application, employer-driven interest, and jail-facilitated interviews and testing, all timed to a release date.