With every stroke, and roll of a paint brush at the Narrows Fire Department, a group of Giles County inmates are making a difference.
"We might be painting one day, cutting brush another," said Leon Meredith.
Meredith is a deputy, hired in the Fall, specifically to watch over the county's inmate work crew. He picks them up five days a week from the New River Valley Regional Jail at 7 a.m. It was a move by county leaders and Sheriff Morgan Millirons to help the community keep up with special projects.
"When they do this service, they are earning good time off their sentence as well and it's cutting down the cost for the county," said Millirons.
The Sheriff says if it a crew like this were not on the job, a great deal of work probably would not get done. The crew saves time and also thousands of dollars in taxpayer money.
"The fire department is all volunteer. It takes a lot of time in training and in support of the fire equipment and everything, so work like this usually doesn't get done," said John Davis, Chief of Narrows Fire Department.
We checked, and the crew of nonviolent offenders started working in October. They combined to work nearly 400 hours in January, and have averaged well over 300 hours since the Fall.
"All the inmates feel like they are giving something back to Giles County by coming over here and working each day," said Meredith.
Working for their community, and hoping to have a chance to become a part of it again.
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