PHOTO: Serving time

: Paul Charest, top left, of the Auburn Parks and Recreation Department, plants flowers with three unidentified participants in the Alternative Sentencing Program in downtown Auburn on Saturday. Twenty-six nonviolent offenders have opted to provide free labor for the city rather than sit in jail, said Sgt. Eric Samson of the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department, who directs the program. Participants are primarily operating under the influence offenders who agreed to work eight-hour days rather than being sentenced to jail. People charged with first-time OUIs can face three to four days in jail, Samson said. “It’s a good thing all the way around,” he said. “It meets their needs and it meets our needs.” The program has been around since the mid-1990s.