Fayette County Sheriff's Office - Community Corrections Inmate Labor

Kathy H. Witt
Fayette County Sheriff

150 N. Limestone, Ste 265
Lexington, KY 40507
Tel. 859-252-1771
Fax 859-259-0973
e-mail the Sheriff

Inmate Labor

In 2005, the Office of the Fayette County Sheriff created its renowned inmate labor program. We tackled this challenge in order to reform inmates positively and proactively as they serve their debt to this community and our society at-large. Our first inmate labor project used the manual labor of a number of community corrections inmates in removing graffiti from vandalized property in Lexington-Fayette County.

Since that time, we have increased our usage of inmate labor, further deploying this cost-free supply of service-oriented labor for the betterment of Lexington-Fayette County. As of December 31, 2005, the Office of the Fayette County Sheriff has directed and supervised community corrections inmates in:

removal of over four thousand objects of graffiti from schools, churches and buildings
clean-up of more than twenty Lexington-Fayette County Public parks
collection and loading of clothing and emergency supplies that our Office coordinated and shipped to the survivors of Hurricane Katrina

Our inmate labor program provides the incarcerated with an opportunity to better our community and to make amends with the civil society that they once scorned. Our experience is that these programs help to lessen tension in the participating prisoners, and provide them with opportunities to gain positive life-skills. We demand a great deal from the prisoners who participate in this program; however, we are glad to step into the role of civic mentor and, for a moment, to step away from the role of being the "long arm of the law."

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