Florida Jailers May Do Yard Work

As it stands, the county hires contractors to mow the foot-high or taller grass and weeds that rile neighbors. That often involves removing swing sets, refrigerators or other junk left behind by the last residents, Ortiz said. Giving jail inmates these tasks would mean that the jobs, and the money that goes along with these jobs, would be taken away from contractors.

 

With complaints about overgrown yards at vacant homes on the rise, Pasco County is looking into getting help from an unlikely place: the pokey.

The County Commission on Tuesday asked its staff to look into whether jail inmates could be pressed into service to mow lawns and do other cleanup at empty houses.

A rise in foreclosures caused a spike in residents’ complaints that vacant neighboring homes are becoming eyesores, said Commissioner Michael Cox, who pressed for drafting jail trustees.

The county code enforcement office doesn’t have enough staff to keep up with hours of mowing and debris removal, nor the budget to hire more crews in these cash-strapped times.

But who has plenty of time available? Inmates. And their hourly rate is, let’s just say, cheap.

While the Sheriff’s Office allows nonviolent offenders under supervision to help mow the grass at county parks, do maintenance at county facilities and prepare the grounds for public events, those jobs are on public property. State law bars using county inmates’ labor for private interests.

Tobin suggested a better option would be allowing inmates to do more work on county parks and other public property, freeing Pasco employees to do more cleanup on vacant homes.

As it stands, the county hires contractors to mow the foot-high or taller grass and weeds that rile neighbors. That often involves removing swing sets, refrigerators or other junk left behind by the last residents, Ortiz said. Giving jail inmates these tasks would mean that the jobs, and the money that goes along with these jobs, would be taken away from contractors.

Source: David DeCamp, St. Petersburg Times, www.tampabay.com