Last month, the Botetourt County Sheriff’s Office, specifically the Inmate Work Crew Program, partnered with the Botetourt County Maintenance Department on a community project to repair a footbridge in the north part of the county.
“The intent of our Inmate Work Crew Program has always been to benefit both our community and the inmates who will eventually transition back into society,” Matt Ward, sheriff of Botetourt County, said. “This particular project afforded our crew the opportunity to take care of a maintenance task that benefited both the Sinking Creek community and our inmates with a sense of purpose, responsibility and pride in a job well done. This is what our program is all about.”
The Inmate Work Crew Program was started last September. It was something that Matt Ward campaigned for while running for sheriff in 2019. Once he was elected to the position, he tasked Jonathan Mason, a deputy with the office, with overseeing the program. Mason has 13 years of law enforcement experience, all of which have been in corrections. He started at the Western Virginia Regional Jail. He has worked in Botetourt County for the past nine years.
“I’m the type who doesn’t like to sit around and look at a computer screen all day. I like to be out breathing fresh air. I like to be moving. This program has allowed me to do that,” he said of why he was interested in being part of the program.
The program allows inmates the ability to contribute to the community through service projects. There is normally one deputy for every two or three workers on any given project. Projects the crew has worked on include mowing around government buildings in Fincastle and picking up trash from the sides of the roads.
Mason stressed that the program is not just beneficial for the inmates, but for the entire community. Even he has benefited from being involved in the program. One of the inmates is a tree service professional. Mason said he has learned quite a bit from him.
“It’s like we’re exchanging skill sets,” he said. “While they’re getting out there and making contacts in the community, I’m also gaining tree cutting and trimming skills.”
The inmate with tree service experience now has several jobs lined up for when he’s released because of the connections he has made through the program.
In addition to his newly earned tree service skills, Mason is working towards becoming a certified pesticide technician so that he can spray around public buildings for bugs. Once he has been a technician for a year, he can start teaching the inmates so that they can get a technician certificate. Mason said that will allow them to basically get a job at any landscaping company once they are released.
The program is also working with the Department of Parks and Recreation to help line up jobs for certain inmates following their release.
Since the program was started, it has worked closely with the maintenance department, which is run by Ricky Dowdy. It was last month that Dowdy contacted Mason with the idea of having inmates assist the maintenance department repair a footbridge. Eventually, Mason, two inmates and two county maintenance workers pitched in to complete the work.
Unlike most footbridges in the county, this one is maintained by the county instead of the Virginia Department of Transportation. The bridge serves the Sinking Creek community in the Gala portion of Eagle Rock. It was built following the flood of 1985 by Floyd Coffey. Coffey also built the bridge that crosses from US 220 to Eagle Rock.
Work on the bridge lasted three days. The first day consisted of the removal of rotten boards, the placing of tarpaper over the existing bridge and the resurfacing of new decking. Mason said there was significant degradation of some of the boards to the point in which it was dangerous to step on some of them. Luckily, one of the inmates had prior roofing experience, which came in handy when it was time to put the tarpaper down.
On the second day, they shored up the beams with extra screws and cross beams.
The last day was spent cleaning up the area, including the cutting back of trees that had grown up around the bridge and brush that had accumulated underneath it. The wood that was cut was given to locals for firewood.
“It should hopefully last another 20 or 30 years,” Mason said.
Mason noted that the program is in high demand among inmates. He’s hopeful that it will expand in the near future. However, more deputies will need to be assigned to the program before it will be able to expand due to the fact that Mason can only take out three to four inmates at a time on his own.
“We’re still small, but we want to do good things in the community. We hope we can do big things over time. These guys on the work crew are human beings just like the rest of us,” he said. “The people that we’re selecting for this program just want to do their time and get back to families and get back to life.”
In order for inmates to be eligible for the program, they already have to be in what is referred to as “trusty status,” which means that they are able to do things like work in the kitchen. The status is earned by proving that one is honest and able to work well with others. An additional screening process is conducted for those who want to work outside of the facility, which takes into account violent charges.
Those who are selected to be part of the program are reimbursed a dollar a day in court costs and fines.
