Did you know at the dump in Walton Co. the prisioners go thru all the household garbage. I called the NWFD news to see if they would do some research. What do you think? If you agree this is demoralizing and inhumane please spread the word.

Yes, it is a well known fact that they go through the garbage looking for recyclables.

And I don't find it any more "inhumane" or "demoralizing" than picking up trash by the side of the road, filling sandbags, digging ditches, scrubbing toilets, etc.

Quite frankly, if they don't like it maybe they should stop breaking the law and ending up on work crews!

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The enemy is ignorance.

scooterbug44.....you hit the nail on the head. why not use prisoners productively rather than them stay indoors all day watching oprah. i for one are happy to see them ridding our roadways of trash. in fact, when i see them on my street i offer at least a thank you. if they didnt break the law, they wouldnt be where they are. personal responsibility goes a long way, but some in our modern day society have forgotten that and want to blame everyone else for the worlds problems.

Oh Boo-Freakin'-Hoo.

Instead of worrying about the "inhumane" treatment of criminals, maybe one should be more concerned about what type of personal information can be found among the garbage that might be useful to people of their ilk.

...another reason everyone should shred every scrap of paper that contains any personal information at all.
.

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But hey...Top Ramen tastes a whole lot better when you eat it off of a Granite Countertop. (Mr & Mrs Too Much Homebuyer)

Florida State Flower

You shouldn't throw away anything that has your name, address, phone number, any financial or medical info, or any personal info on it - that's what grills/fireplaces/bonfires are for!

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The enemy is ignorance.

I agree with both you and scooterbug. I have certainly done my fair share of garbage duty, toilet scrubbing, etc. and thats just because Im married . I see nothing wrong at all with them performing this type of work. I also thank them for repaying their debt to society in this way (in person when I see them).

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"We have had no good comic operas of late, because the real world has been more comic than any possible opera." - The Quotable Chesterton

This should happen at all prisons. It's inhuman what goes on in prison these days. Lifting weights,hoops,cable TV.
etc. is all BS. Did people know that the rollout for Digital TV transmission was stalled because it affected so many prisoners who's TV's need cable boxes.
Pay a debt back to society instead of running gangs from behind bars. I have absolutely no problem with this at all and I wish it would go Nationwide. As for throwing away personal info.... maybe that's where my charge from Bad Boy Bail Bonds came from on my last Visa bill?

Isn't the jobs offered to prisoners all volunteer? I would guess that many prisoners welcome an opportunity to be considered good enough and not dangerous to be able to get outside prison walls and do anything. They likely have to earn their right to be considered for these jobs.

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Anthony

If you think that forcing the prisoners to do work is bad, then look at what they do to prisoners in Arizona. It doesn't even compare.

IIRC they are paid to it aren't they? It's not even close to minimum wage, but it's not like they have Boss standing over them with a whip and shotgun.

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trust me, any prisoner who get's a chance to go outdoors, will apply for any work duty. some are obviously more desired than others.

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click >> Filter your water instead of using bottled water << click

I agree that this is not inhumane at all and the prisoners should see this as light labor. They broke the law to be put in jail or prison and why should they get much better meals than homeless people that have not broken any laws. These prisoners have a roof and 3 meals a day and have great medical care and if sifting through garbage is payment for their crimes, they should be happy with that. Remember the old days when prisoners were put to work to build railroads?

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screen printing | screen printing t-shirts

Sorry to catch this late. Does this mean that although we don't separate recycleables in Walton, they still do get recycled? We don't have to take our plastics to Publix in order to get it recycled?

Sort of...they do go through the garbage at the landfill & pick out items that can recycled. However, the best that I understand it, we should still use the "blue bag" recycling program because once paper gets contaminated (oil, grease, gum, etc) it can no longer be recycled. Therefore, it is a good idea to separate out your recyclables & place in blue bags. Which brings me to the practice of the Waste Management truck picking up our blue bags. Once they get thrown in the truck, they are then crushed to make all the garbage compact...wouldn't this often tear open bags & then expose paper to contamination? It seems like it to me. So, I separate my plastics, paper & then in another bag glass & aluminum & when they are full I take them to recycle center/bin (like at the corner of 393 & 98). Here is a comprehensive chart on what can & cannot be recycled...

The World's Shortest Comprehensive Recycling Guide

I agree with most of you, I believe it is more than likely a privilege for the prisoners to be able to work at the landfill; I don't believe they are being forced. But it is good advice to shred everything...I need to do that more!

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30-A Personal Chef
www.ChefJamieDietrich.com

"Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch." -- Orson Welles

i say work them hard. i have to work hard and i dont get free medical or 3 meals a day.

A was at the dump a couple of weeks ago. There were about 10 inmates working in the big garbage building. they were going through the trash, picking out and sorting into sseveral areas, plastic, glass, metal. The inmates who do that are trustees. They are not exactly paid, but do get some "perks" As far as I know the trustees do work for the county. The jail bids on jobs, like roadside cleanup etc and if they get the contract, then the inmates do t he work.
I woould rather spend the day at the dump sorting smelly garbage then sitting inside bored to death waiting to get into trouble from some prison crap.

I agree with the post about the prisoners liking the work. Many of them would rather be doing anything outdoors rather than be stuck in four walls. Only those the jail trusts (trustees) are allowed to do this type of work both in and out of the prison walls. In county jail, they actually get 5 days per month off their sentence for being trustees. Talk about motivation to keep your nose clean and work hard! Prison trustees actually get about 20 or 25 cents per hour for work. The money is deposited in their canteen account.

Captk: I wouldn't feed the jail meals to my dog nor would I allow the jail doctor to treat a cat if I owned one. And I hate cats. The food and "medical care" are the minimum required to keep you alive.

As for televisions, the guards would be the first to object to their removal. It keeps the inmates occupied. Jails are usually kept very cold so the prisoners will sleep a lot.

Just gotta chime in here on a tangent--I wish there were some program in place, as long as they're sorting the garbage, to do large-scale composting of all compostable materials. Keep it out of the landfills, and turn trash into treasure that could be given to citizens or packaged and sold as some kind of gourmet soil amendment.....

At this point, I think they shred a lot of landscaping waste, which citizens can pick up and use for mulch, though they don't go to any effort to make it convenient or easy. You would have to hand-shovel it unless you're lucky enough to show up on a day and time when someone is there who has the skill and authority to use the little front-end loader to quickly fill up your truck with mulch.

So it looks like maybe we're going in the right direction, with some room for improvement....maybe in all the reorganization of county gov't, someone will find a way to use staff and equipment more effectively and efficiently in this area.

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Susan Horn
www.artisan-builds.com

I did not know this - am glad to hear it is a reward and that there are incentives like this for good behavior that also get them out sooner!

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The enemy is ignorance.