By Chris Fortune
St. Joseph News-Press, Mo.
BUCHANAN COUNTY, Mo. — A voluntary program utilizing inmate help to clean county roads and assist community service organizations continues to make a difference 10 years later.
The Buchanan County Inmate Trash Clean-up Crew program began in April 2014 with the help of Buchanan County Commissioner Ron Hook and the coordination of county judges and sheriffs who all bought into the program.
Sheriff’s Deputy Matthew Thornton has supervised inmates in the program since it began, and at the time, he didn’t believe it would last very long.
“I thought, ‘Okay, let’s see how this experiment goes,’” he said.
But Thornton has loved the program since the day it began. Most of the time, he supervises a crew of four inmates who are provided pants, boots and shirts if they don’t have the proper clothing for the job.
“I’ve told them for 10 years that you need to take care of this tool, that tool, take care of the truck because it’ll be utilized after you’re gone,” he said.
Those in the program are usually jailed for minor offenses. The work gives them time outside of their cell and, in some cases, a lighter sentence.
“Typically, it’s 60 working days, and they can potentially be released,” he said. “But that’s also dependent on the case, the judge and everything else.”
Over the last 10 years, the crews have found more than litter. Less than a year into the program, they found a body and $1 million worth of marijuana.
“I think it was 30 black bags that were double-bagged with I want to say it was 25 pounds in each bag,” he said.
In the program’s 2022 annual report, over 100 different items were found on the roads, including laptops, knives, tools and mattresses.
Nearly 4,000 pounds of cans were collected and recycled by inmates over that year for $1,621. The money made for recycling is given to Habitat for Humanity .
“They usually jive pretty good and work well together just to get the job done,” he said.
The inmates’ services extend into lawn care as well. They rake, weed wack and cut tree limbs around local museums. But these services might slow down this spring until more inmates qualify and volunteer for the program.
“I’m actually, unfortunately, down to one guy,” he said. “So he’s kind of out there being Hercules, and he’s getting it done, and he’s trying to just do what he can with what we have.”
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