NCJ Number
164550
Journal
American Jails Volume: 10 Issue: 4 Dated: (September-October 1996) Pages: 69,71
Date Published
1996
Length
2 pages
Annotation
Inmates from Lewis County (Wash.) helped volunteers repair a tourist railroad damaged by flooding in early 1996, through an agreement with the Lewis County Sheriff's Office and the Chehalis-Centralia Railroad Association.
Abstract
The Chehalis-Centralia Railroad was restored in 1986 and is used for a steam engine that pulls a special tourist and dinner train during the summer months. The 1996 flooding washed out all the ballast on an 800-foot section of the railroad. The volunteers from the association needed to replace the ballast and raise the line from 14 to 24 inches to restore the track to a functional condition. Sheriff John McCroskey and the corrections staff agreed to provide inmates from the Corrections Bureau's offender labor pool. The offender labor crew worked most of the spring alongside the railroad association volunteers. Many offenders expressed pleasure with the project; at least one offender returned to volunteer services after release. Association members were also pleased. The staff of the Sheriff's Office were pleased that the offenders were able to provide community service while gaining work-ethic skills. They also noted both that the offenders were proud of their accomplishment and that when they returned from work they were generally too tired to cause trouble. Photographs