THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 8, 1995 TAG: 9502080510
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
To save taxpayers money, the Virginia Department of Transportation recently awarded a litter-removal contract to an organization that doesn't pay its workers.
For $55,887.56 - the lowest bid - the Virginia Beach Sheriff's Department agreed in December to put willing inmates to work picking up garbage strewn onto the shoulders and medians of The Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway and Interstate 264 in Norfolk.
Inmates, supervised by a complement of deputies, began patrolling the roadsides last month.
When Virginia Beach Sheriff Frank Drew put together the proposal, he asked Norfolk Sheriff Bob McCabe to be a subcontractor for the Norfolk highway. McCabe agreed.
The money from the state - roughly half what VDOT has paid in years past for the same job - pays deputies' salaries.
Last year in Virginia Beach, inmate labor saved the city more than $750,000, Chief Deputy Paul Lanteigne said.
Commuters zipping into Norfolk or to the Oceanfront whiz by portable orange signs proclaiming the sheriffs' work forces are busy picking up roadside debris.
The cities use non-violent inmates who volunteer for the work. If a work-force inmate were to run away, he or she would face an increased sentence, officials said.
Norfolk inmates earn minimum-wage credits to pay the fines keeping them in jail.
In Virginia Beach, prisoners earn good-time credits that can shorten their sentences.
``It gets them out of jail faster and relieves overcrowding,'' Norfolk City Jail spokesman George Schaefer said. ``Plus, they come back from work tired, and a tired inmate is a sleeping inmate.''
Once a week, Virginia Beach prisoners collect trash on the expressway. Once a month, Norfolk inmates pick up garbage on I-264. The Norfolk Sheriff's Department gets about $8,000 for its share of the work.
``We're certainly not trying to eliminate private businesses who want to do the same thing,'' Lanteigne said.
``But on the other hand, when we see an opportunity to save the taxpayers money, we would like to take advantage of that.''
The labor is free, but the supervision is expensive. While a private litter-removal contractor might have one supervisor for every 50 or so workers, the sheriffs' departments put a deputy with every four or five inmates.
``We don't want to compete against private industry,'' Lanteigne said. ``All we are trying to do is save the taxpayers some money. We are not looking to take over major projects.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
PAUL AIKEN/Staff
Deputy W. Phillips watches Rodney Howlett and other members of
Norfolk Sheriff Bob McCabe's work force, cleaning the Virginia
Beach-Norfolk Expressway. Inmates can earn minimum-wage credit for
the volunteer labor.
by CNB