(a) Any person who has been convicted in a municipal court, circuit court, or in a magistrate court under any criminal provision of this code of a misdemeanor or felony, or municipal ordinance, which is punishable by imposition of a fine or confinement in a regional jail or a state correctional institution, or both fine and confinement, may, in the discretion of the sentencing judge or magistrate, as an alternative to the sentence imposed by statute or ordinance for the crime, be sentenced under one of the following programs:
(1) The weekend jail program under which a person would be required to spend weekends or other days normally off from work in jail;