Since 1995, the program has cleaned up more than 3,000 illegal dumping sites using more than 2,000 inmates.
But illegal dumping remains a problem, Deputy Brad Tillman said, and calls to a tip line have climbed the past two years.
“It’s kind of out of control, as far as the illegal dumping,” Tillman said. “We’re on it, but it’s just everywhere.”
The Clark County Waste Management District has spent more than $2 million on PRIDE (Providing Responsibility for Inmates through Duties for the Environment) and its environmental enforcement program since 1995, according to records obtained this month by the Springfield News-Sun.
“The return on investment is phenomenal,” said Clark County Commissioner John Detrick, who serves on the Waste Management District’s Board of Directors. “It shows the citizens we are working with these individuals to make this a better community.”
The program also provides a source of labor for the Waste Management District.
“It really helps our program,” said Waste Management District program coordinator Steve Schlather. “If we had to hire a crew to do all the things the deputies do, I don’t know if we’d be able to manage the recycling center without raising our fees, which we really don’t want to do.”
Saving money
In the first three months of this year, 617 inmates provided 3,710 hours of work. With the Ohio minimum wage at $7.70, workers saved organizations such as the Clark County Fairgrounds, the Springfield City Area Transit, Springfield City Schools, National Trail Parks and Recreation District and the Clark County Humane Society more than $28,000.
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office recently received a grant to use PRIDE inmates to clean up Interstate 70 from Madison County to Montgomery County as well as I-675, U.S. 68 and Ohio 4 on evenings and Sundays. The state estimated the cost at $70,000 to clean up the roadways using state employees; through the PRIDE program, it cost $20,000, saving taxpayers $50,000.
“It pays for (the deputies), gas, the bags of trash,” Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly said.
In the last three months, the inmates have already cleaned from Ohio 235 into Montgomery County in both lanes, walking a total of 70 miles.
Deputies Tillman and George Bennett are in charge of PRIDE and environmental enforcement. They’re stationed at the Waste Management District office on West Main Street, where inmates work at the recycling center, bailing cardboard and other recycled materials.
Schlather said it wouldn’t be financially sustainable to take cardboard without the inmates, who bail the cardboard then store it until there’s enough to fill a truckload. The cardboard processors then come haul it away from the Waste Management District for a fee.
Of the $35,279 of revenue generated by recycled materials in 2011, $26,753 came from cardboard.
“If we had to load up a truck and transport it up somewhere every time it got filled up, we’d be spending more on gas than we’d be making on the cardboard,” Schlather said.
Inmates planted more than 1,000 flowers at the Hollandia Botanical Garden in preparation of last weekend’s Bulb Festival.
“Our goal is to take care of places who are smaller and can’t afford to pay people to do other things,” Tillman said. “It saves them some money, and gives the guys a chance to give back.”
‘Out of control’
The program has also educated the public about environmental laws. The county’s environmental enforcement hot line has received more than 4,500 phone calls since 1995, and more than 1,000 arrests have been made.
Of those, 657 arrests were made during the first three years of the program, and Kelly said the number of arrests has dropped because citizens have been educated on environmental law. Deputies recorded 31 arrests last year.
“Word has spread that Clark County is serious,” Kelly said.
Tillman and Bennett said illegal dumping is still a problem around Springfield. Calls to the environmental enforcement hot line have risen from about 300 calls in 2009 to 478 calls in 2010 and then nearly 500 last year.
So far in 2012, they’ve received 139 calls.
“They dump it in the alleys, and before you know it, cars will run over it and it’s all over the place,” Tillman said.
That’s when Tillman, Bennett and the inmates come in and clean it up.
“It’s a dirty job because you’re getting household trash, diapers,” Bennett said.
The inmates and officers also search for the offenders’ mail in the trash.
With the recent surge in bedbug outbreaks, they’ve seen a rash of people illegally dumping mattresses, chairs and couches.
“That’s the conditions (the inmates) work in,” Tillman said. “They’re not getting paid; it’s just the ability to get outside and not be in the jail cell. That’s why they show the respect that they do because they want to be a part of the program.”
‘Grateful’
Gary Hubbard, 53, of Springfield has spent the last five months working with the PRIDE program as an inmate at the jail. He’s serving a six-month sentence for driving under suspension and said PRIDE helps his time go by faster.
“I’m grateful,” Hubbard said. “I like to work. I don’t want to sit idle.”
Hubbard said he’s also enjoyed performing a service, like cleaning illegal dump sites and beautifying the community through projects.
“It’s good for the public,” Hubbard said.
Tillman said most of the inmates who work with the PRIDE program are on shorter sentences. Every PRIDE inmate is cleared through both the court and the Clark County Jail’s medical staff.
“We talk about trying to rehabilitate people and trying to turn their lives around,” Kelly said. “If there’s any program that has the ability to do it, it’s this program.”
Some inmates are able to work time off their sentences, while others are awarded PRIDE duties as a privilege during their sentence.
They’re often paired with work-site supervisors not affiliated with the sheriff’s office. Tillman said they trust the inmates to stay at a site and understands inmates don’t want to risk an escape charge, which could carry a sentence up to three years.
“You always have the worry because they’re inmates. They’re doing time at the jail,” Tillman said.
Kelly said the program teaches inmates a work ethic they may not have had before.
“The get their hair cut, they get a shower every day,” Kelly said. “It’s the work ethic. They pack their lunches. They say ‘Yes, sir,’ ‘No, sir,’ things they probably never did in high school.
“I’ve never had a complaint about them being disrespectful because if they’re disrespectful, they’re back on the fifth floor looking out the window.”
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