Solon Economou

Inmate workers ramp it up

Sheriff's community service crews build goodwill on Cape Cod

   Sara Putnam watches as inmate Fred Thompson builds a handicapped ramp for her front door.

Sara Putnam of Hyannis is 62 but she looks, sounds, and feels a whole lot older.  Four strokes, diabetes, and the grueling regimen of thrice-weekly dialysis treatments can do that to you.

But at least her frequent falls are largely in the past, thanks to Barnstable County Sheriff Jim Cummings and four of the inmates he oversees at the county correctional facility.  The Sheriff has dispatched the foursome, one of two community service crews, to build a handicapped ramp to the front door at Sara's Winter Street home.

"This is so nice of them," Sara explained from inside her home as the rap-tap-tap of hammers and the bzzz of electric saws floated through an open window.  "I really can't thank them enough.  I've fallen so many times.  And every year I seem to get a little weaker."

"The value to local property taxpayers and project recipients is self evident.  Inmates, meanwhile, have a healthy and refreshing outlet for their talent, a way to give back at least some of what we pay to incarcerate them." - Sheriff Cumming

Sheriff Cummings noted his stack of worthwhile projects grows longer, never shorter, "but that's better than having it the other way around."  Cape towns and other local public sector agencies are eligible recipients along with non-profit organizations.  Ms. Putnam's ramp was requested by the non-profit Cape Cod Organization for the Rights of the Disabled (CORD).

CORD helped Mrs. Putnam secure funds to purchase the wood, along with the other ramp materials.  That contribution, combined with a generous discount from Home Depot, accounts for about $5,000 worth of the job.  The value of the inmate labor is almost $6,500 when you include the sergeant assigned to supervise the four-day job.  That brings the bottom-line donation to about $11,500.  "I could never afford that," Sara acknowledges.

In a typical year, inmates perform in the neighborhood of 40,000 hours and normally do at least one project in each of the Cape's 15 towns.  Some communities get more than one visit and municipal projects - park and beach clean-ups, school paintings, housing authority fix-ups - top the list.

Only about 5 percent of the inmates are eligible for the work-crew program.  Automatically excluded are inmates awaiting trial, those named in a restraining order, and anyone convicted of certain violent crimes.  Major drug and sex offenders are also ineligible. 

Sheriff Cummings said, "the value to local property taxpayers and project recipients is self evident.  Inmates, meanwhile, have a healthy and refreshing outlet for their talent, a way to give back at least some of what we pay to incarcerate them."

 Sara is of course the biggest winner of all, having freed herself of a major worry.  She last fell in February and has had multiple spills in the five years since she suffered her first stroke.

"Those winter appointments for six AM dialysis treatments are the worst," she says.  "All that ice.  The trickiest part was trying to go down those front steps using this," she adds, nodding with her chin to her metal walker.

"No more of that," she grins.

Anyone looking to get an inmate labor crew for a project should call David Neal at the Sheriff's Department at (508) 563-4305.  In order to be eligible, the project must be for either a public-sector agency or a non-profit and must be headquartered on Cape  Cod.  No work is done for individuals or for profit-making entities.  Crews are already booked through early fall and even longer lead times are sometimes required.  So jobs that need to get done quickly normally go unfilled.