Worcester Telegram, Wednesday, November 7, 2012
DOUGLAS — The sheriff’s Inmate Community Work Program spent more than a week in Douglas completing extensive jobs for the Fire Department, Municipal Center, Highway Department and the VFW.
Committed to making a positive difference both inside the Worcester County Jail & House of Correction and in the community, Worcester County Sheriff Lewis Evangelidis has been providing inmate work crews to assist budget-strapped cities and towns throughout Worcester County. The WCSO Inmate Community Service Program provides free labor to municipalities and nonprofit organizations by nonviolent, non-sex offenders who have earned a place in the program, and under Mr. Evangelidis, the inmate work crews have been very hard at work.
Since taking office in January 2011, the sheriff has more than tripled the size of the Inmate Community Service Program, providing communities with $2.5 million in savings with more than 1,000 work projects completed. Inmates benefit from the program by learning job skills and a sense of self worth and dignity that comes from a productive day’s work, while the recipients — hundreds of local nonprofit organizations and municipalities from throughout the county — have had projects completed by the inmate work crews that they could not have afforded otherwise.
“As sheriff, it is always a pleasure for me to return to Douglas — hometown of my grandparents and where I spent so much time growing up as a kid — and I am thrilled to be here today with the inmate work crews, said Mr. Evangelidis.
“We are very appreciative of the sheriff’s inmate work program which completed many extensive projects for the town of Douglas this week, including brush removal for the Fire Department and much-needed maintenance work at the municipal center.
“The inmate work crews also helped out at both Martin and Soldier fields by completing grounds work and applying a fresh coat of paint to all the dugouts. The WCSO Inmate Community Service Program has provided an enormous service and substantial cost savings for our town,” said Highway Department Supervisor John Furno.
