Inmates assist county crews

By Staff
Jonathan Willis
With the county working with a tight budget this year and most likely the next, officials have been looking to find ways of maximizing their resources.
One department that has found some help is the highway department. The department has been using the help of county inmates.
"These are not violent criminals," said county engineer David Palmer. "Those that are working with us are people who have made mistakes and are being held for short periods of time."
Each morning, crews from the highway department pick up inmates who have been chosen to assist the department.
"We have a lot of different areas where they can help us," Palmer said. "We have sign crews they can work with, they can work traffic control or they can provide labor for us. For an example, it keeps us from pulling a permanent employee off a job site to go work traffic control for a sign crew or bridge inspector."
Currently, there is a crew of four inmates working to clean areas around all guardrails and county signs throughout the county.
"They are a big help," Palmer said. "It's a significant increase in man power. We have used anywhere from four to 12 in a day."
Officials estimate the program will save the county $300,000 to $400,000 annually.
"This will really help the county," Commissioner Greg Smith said. "I am glad that we have the sheriff's department and highway department working so well together on this."
Smith said funding was taken away from the highway department's budget in years past to help pay for the county's new jail, which opened early in 2008.
"A lot of the money went from the highway department to fund the jail," Smith said. "This is a way to help the highway department and the county. We feed and keep these inmates so this way the taxpayers are getting something back."
Palmer said the additional labor has been a benefit and he hopes to see it continue.
"These guys are providing real labor to us," he said. "They are getting a lot done, it's not just a show out there."