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Prisoners Stay Busy DoingCity Work

By Douglas Carman | Highlands Today

Published: October 24, 2007

Sometimes, for the city, there just isn't enough prison labor to go around.

City Project Manager Maria Sutherland realized it while she tried to arrange for inmates to mow the "pizza slice," that triangle at the west end of the Avon Park mall near the intersection of Main Street and U.S. 27.

She told the city council Monday evening that she used to have "easy access" to the inmate labor while former Parks and Recreation Director Tony Anderson was around. Lately, however, she has had trouble getting them scheduled.

Tuesday morning, Sutherland added that she had some problems coordinating the schedules with the public works department, which was "hogging up" the labor.
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"They're a high commodity and I don't blame them (the public works department) for keeping them to themselves," Sutherland said. "They have a lot on their plate."

Ted Long, the department's coordinator, said Tuesday that he was trying to rework the scheduling, and he realized the demand for them.

"Every department in the city has used them for something," he said.

Avon Park uses a correctional officer and a five-member crew of inmates from the Avon Park Correctional Institution to handle a lot of the city's street and right-of-way maintenance. For some side projects, the city's project manager uses them as well to take on tasks ranging from taking care of plants to mowing the mall. Long, however, uses them "99 percent" of the time.

"Other departments have a staff and have departments," Sutherland said. "I don't have it. I have to basically beg for the inmates to come."

In the mall's case, she said she has contractors to handle the rest of the mall, but it would have been too much money to weed the corner without the prison labor.

Sebring uses APCI as well as Highlands County Jail inmates in its public works department as well, although Public Works Superintendent George Fox said he's the only department in the city that relies on them. Lake Placid Town Clerk Arlene Tuck said it uses only Highlands County Jail inmates for Keep Lake Placid Beautiful.

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