County prisoners hit litter on streets

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, May 15, 2001

Ford Emery, Warren County Deputy Sheriff, watches as a state inmate picks up trash along Redbone Road Monday. (The Vicksburg Post/C. TODD SHERMAN)

[05/15/01] Litter crews from the county jail are going to be more common in coming months, Sheriff Martin Pace said.

Inmates have been used to clean roadsides off-and-on since 1996, but last fall the vehicle used to drive the inmates to various sites broke down and the program stopped. It was reinstated last week, Pace said, using a vehicle acquired from the Warren County Highway Department. Crews will be out picking up litter four days a week, every week, Pace said.

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A minimum of four inmates and a maximum of six, make up a crew and the only eligible inmates include those charged with minor crimes and who are considered minimum security risks.

“Our first responsibility is to keep the community safe,” Pace said. “We’re not going to compromise public safety for litter patrol.” Deputy Sheriff Ford Emery accompanies the inmates on the route and taxpayers pay only the cost of the deputy and the truck driver.

The incentive for the inmates, who legally cannot be forced to work and are all volunteers, is time off of their sentences. Each inmate gets one day off the end of a sentence, up to 180 days, for each day worked.

Pace said not everyone who volunteers is accepted.

“We know there is some public concern,” Pace said. “The only ones eligible are those inmates that we feel are the most trustworthy. Safety is always the utmost concern.”

County road manager Rhea Fuller said using inmates to pick up litter has been a service to the county and to the highway department.

“It’s working out real well for us,” Fuller said. He said the road department has to use only one employee now while four or five previously were used.

“We can take the extra members of the crew and put them on other jobs for the county,” he said.

He also said there have been no problems having the inmates doing the work.

“I’m pleased the sheriff was able to work this out for us,” he said.

One inmate on the crew cleaning Redbone Road Monday said he was glad to be able to do something constructive and enjoy getting outside for a while.

“We get a lot done,” he said. “We fill about 30 bags a day.”

“You wouldn’t believe how much garbage is out here,” another inmate said.

Ellis Cross, the county employee who drives the truck, said he enjoys working with the inmates as well.

“I’d rather have the inmates,” Cross said. “They are no trouble at all, and it goes pretty smooth.”