Oct 26, 2022 4 min read

Under sunny autumn skies this week, nine men labored building a small, wooden footbridge behind Washington Park Elementary School that will be used for cross-country meets.

But this wasn’t just any ordinary construction crew. This team was made up of inmates at the Washington County jail working as part of the county’s “Furlough Into Service” program that allows them to perform community service projects at a fraction of the cost.

“They’re booked throughout the rest of the year,” jail Warden Jeffrey Fewell said. “They’re doing great work. We want to expand that.”

The FITS program resumed in July after being paused for more than two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the nine-member crew has been making up for lost time over the last three months. The inmates, all of whom are jailed on relatively minor offenses and have less than a year left on their sentences, have fanned out across the county to help various nonprofits, government agencies and other organizations with projects.

Cliff Warnick, director of the county’s Community Services Department, said the men are required to work five hours per day for five days a week, but they also have the option to work an additional two days, which they all have chosen to do. With COVID lockdowns and limited visitation opportunities during the pandemic, getting out and doing manual labor has been a welcome reprieve for the men while they give back to the community.

“Unbelievable workers. Very conscientious,” Warnick said. “The biggest problem is making them take a break. They take a break and then they want to get back to work. They really enjoy coming out.”

The inmates are vetted to work on the crew and are supervised by two foremen when in public. Before the pandemic, the FITS program used inmates who were on work release and had to return to the jail on nights and weekends. But when the program restarted this summer, county officials decided to expand the scope and allow for incarcerated inmates to form a work crew.

“They were all very low security,” Warnick said of the inmates chosen for the team, although their identities were not released.

The response, so far, has been overwhelmingly positive.

The monetary earnings the inmates receive on the job help them pay off fines or fees attached to their sentences. Meanwhile, the only cost to Washington School District for the new footbridge was $2,700 for lumber and supplies. In addition, the workers have done landscaping in Canonsburg Park, painting at the PONY fields in Washington and projects at the historic John White House at the fairgrounds in Chartiers Township.

It’s unknown how much money will be saved for projects across the county in a year, but the work has been invaluable both to the entities on the receiving end and the inmates who are performing the tasks.

That’s been the experience of the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Chartiers Township, where the FITS team has worked on multiple projects, including moving items around the archives and refurbishing an old freight car. Scott Becker, director of the Trolley Museum, said the program provides the organization with additional manpower “behind the scenes” for work that would otherwise be too costly or just wouldn’t get done.

“I think it’s wonderful. They’ve done a great job,” Becker said. “They’re very motivated. They’ve worked on a lot of different projects for us, outside and inside.”

The museum also receives help from inmates serving sentences at SCI-Greene prison near Waynesburg, so this partnership with the Washington County jail made sense. He praised the program and said the projects help the inmates as they prepare to re-enter society after serving their sentences.

“We try to do projects where they can learn skills so they can get work when they’re no longer incarcerated,” Becker said. “I think that’s really important. I hope it continues. It’s a wonderful program for everyone concerned.”