August 17, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Community and Public Work Project

If you see men wearing all white cleaning up the town square, clearing brush, or hanging holiday decorations in your community, they are probably offenders from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice who are assigned to a "Community and Public Work Project".

The program uses non-paid selected offenders, who are two years or less from being eligible for release, to provide a work force for projects on public land and buildings. It also provides vocational opportunities for the offenders during their incarceration. Some offenders are able to fulfill their court-ordered community service requirements by working in the program which also saves taxpayer dollars. Offenders, who work in the community, are carefully screened by the unit warden and are supervised by correctional staff.

A community work squad recently finished a project for Huntsville Independent School District. When the schools were empty this summer offenders from the Wynne Unit provided some much needed assistance in getting the parking lots ready for the new school year. They removed the old paint, power washed concrete, and provided some much needed fresh paint to campus parking lots.

"These work assignments expose offenders to a positive work ethic which will be necessary for a successful re-entry into their community," said Bill Stephens, Director of the TDCJ Correctional Institutions Division. "Many offenders express a sense of satisfaction in giving back to the community."

In June 2015, the program handled 197 projects while providing 49,005 offender work hours.

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