KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas — After a five year furlough, Kaufman County Sheriff Bryan Beavers has reinstated the trustee road crew program to clean up county roads of trash and litter.
KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas — After a five year furlough, Kaufman County Sheriff Bryan Beavers has reinstated the trustee road crew program to clean up county roads of trash and litter.
Starting earlier this month, the program allows two detention officers to manage a 4-man rotating crew of inmate trustees to be dispatched to county roads in all four precincts tasked with cleaning up trash and debris. The program was made possible by the Sheriff’s department and funding from the commissioner’s court. A previous court had previously cut the program due to budget constraints.
According to Sheriff Beavers, Precinct 1 Commissioner Mike Hunt has made the county’s trash and illegal dumping one of his major priorities county wide. And while the commissioner’s court considered hiring more environmental officers, they quickly realized that taxpayers would be better served by hiring detention officers to manage the trustee program and voted to do so.
“The amount of trash and litter that is left and dumped county wide is unbelievable,” Hunt told inForney.com “We can’t ignore the trash problem any longer, so we are tackling that from several angles from education and enforcement to clean up. I am confident that the trustee program will go a long way in helping us to tackle the problem and saving taxpayer’s money.”
The inmate road crew program is strictly voluntary for inmates who have pre-adjudicated sentences and are being held on nonviolent offenses. The trustees who meet the minimum standards are afforded the opportunity to work an 8-hour shift outside of the jail according to the Sheriff.
“This is an opportunity for an inmate to get out of their cell and give something back to the community and taxpayers,” Beavers said. “It’s a great opportunity for the inmate, a great help to the county road crew, saves money and things begin to look better. When all those things come together, it’s a great day for all of us.”
The road crew will work in all four of the county’s precincts on a rotational basis based on requests from the county commissioners.
“There is more than enough to work to keep the crew busy for a while,” Commissioner Hunt said. “And each of the commissioners are pleased to have the additional help. We look forward to see what they can accomplish.”
Trustees have already been working inside the jail to help reduce costs. Trustees are responsible for all meal preparation, daily laundry, custodial services and lawn maintenance at the county jail. Inmate yard crews also help maintain the lawns at the courthouse, county’s south campus, Sheriff’s office, veteran’s memorial and the 911 operations center.
“Trustees in all of these areas help to save the county hundred of thousands of dollars a year,” Beavers said. “and for those that are willing, we hope that encouraging them to get into a disciplined work pattern will benefit them once they have left jail.”
So far, the feedback has been positive from both commissioner’s and inmates according to the Sheriff.
“We have heard a lot of positive feedback,” he said. “We will continue to look for new and innovative ways to provide our inmates the opportunity to work and give something back while they are here with us.”