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A road to freedom for inmates
By BRADY DENNIS LAND O'LAKES -- So this is the sound of the women working on Pasco County's chain gang. There are no chains. No handcuffs. No deputies pacing with shotguns. There is only the sound of half-full trash bags dragging the ground as cars whiz by on State Road 52. The sound of pronged tools picking up old beer cans, shards of tires and bits of rubbish. The sound of five women, dressed in zebra stripes and orange vests, chatting as they march another mile down the road, a step closer toward freedom. "(In jail), everything is taken away from you, so you really don't miss it that much," said Rosalieanne Loconte, 30, who is serving time on a drug conviction. "It's great to get out here and see the sun and see the ground. And see some life." Loconte is part of the first crew to pick the road clean under a new contract between the Pasco County Sheriff's Office and the state Department of Transportation. Under the $79,218 contract, the Sheriff's Office will provide crews to work along the roads in exchange for quarterly payments from the Transportation Department. The program is voluntary for inmates. So what's in it for them? Every 40 hours they work knocks a day and a half off their sentence, sheriff's officials said. That's a nice incentive, but there are others, too. "The idea of being locked up in a big room with 50 other women isn't that exciting," said deputy Tracy McLeod, who was chosen from the 13 deputies who applied to watch over the five-woman crew. "Without this, the only work they had was in the laundry area and cleaning. This gets them away from the jail. Things we take for granted, like just seeing a car go by, is an experience for them." Only inmates convicted of non-violent crimes are eligible to work on the crew. And they have to be free of any escape attempts in the past. The road work helps whittle down their sentences, but it doesn't come without sweat. They work four days a week, Monday through Thursday, starting about 7 a.m. and working 11 to 12 hours. They walk about 5 miles a day. They fill 20 trash bags. The group travels in a Sheriff's Office van, which pulls a trailer to carry the trash and supplies for the day. Today's lunch menu: ham, cheese and bologna subs, coleslaw and gelatin. Currently the group is cleaning up SR 52, from U.S. 41 to 10th Street in Dade City. Of the five women on the work crew, only Loconte would give her name. Loconte, who is due to be released soon, said she jumped at the chance to knock another day from her sentence. But she said she's also learned something by working out under the sun, watching the cars buzz by. "In the pod, everything is taken away, so you don't miss it that much," Loconte said. "But there's a difference between sitting in there and coming out here in stripes and letting the public see you. "Working in adult entertainment was good money. But it wasn't worth this."
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From today's Pasco Times |
