
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, July 31, 1995                   TAG: 9507310104
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: BROWNTOWN                                 LENGTH: Short

HARD WORK, BUT THEY'RE SORT OF FREE

Lawrence Threat tugged at the fallen tree limb along the riverbank until his strength and patience gave out. With plenty of other branches to gather, he moved on to another jumble of debris left over from this summer's deadly floods.

Threat and the other seven men clad in orange T-shirts were not typical laborers helping Warren County clean up from the flooding. As crew members from the White Post Correctional Unit work center, they were the first from the Clarke County prison to work on a community service project.

``We feel like the chosen ones,'' said Threat, 31, who is serving seven years for credit card fraud. The White Post crewmen spent part of last week clearing debris as unarmed corrections officers stood watch.

The statewide centers are designed to create more room in prisons for violent offenders, who are increasingly being denied parole.

The inmates must be willing to put in a day's work. They earn extra money and a little time outside the confines of prison.

Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr., R-Winchester, who asked the state to get prison labor involved in the cleanup, said it boosts inmates' self-esteem and shows the community they are repaying their debt.

The men are near the end of their sentences, which reassures corrections officials that they won't try to escape.

Gary Shrive, 27, of Arlington County, who hopes to be paroled in the fall, said: ``I've come too far. I'm not going to blow it right now. If you run, you're going to get five years automatically. It ain't worth it.''

by CNB