Jail inmates put to work
Julie Beechum is one inmate at Warren County Jail who doesn’t mind having her picture taken.
Beechum, along with fellow prisoners Jamie Wray and Shannon Thomas, were able to shed the confines of jail living to get outside and work Friday in what city leaders billed as a community project.
“It’s something positive,” Beechum said. “That’s why I don’t mind.”
The women worked on a planting project at the corner of Bernard Drive and Beersheba Street for the city’s Department of Urban Forestry. Earlier in the week, three male inmates started the job.
According to Urban Forester Nick Kuhn, Day Lily Nursery donated 15,000 plants to the city, and about half are being planted on that corner. The rest are expected to be planted at Pistol Park another time.
“This has been a headache because it’s so steep,” Kuhn said of the inconvenience to water department employees housed in the nearby building, who would otherwise have to weed eat the grass on the sharp incline. “If they’re up there and they slip, they’ll fall into traffic. We wanted to plant something to make it look better, but at the same time, make it safer.”
He said the results of the plantings, which will bloom sometime next year, are something that will outlast the sentences of the three women, who were serving varied amounts of time for misdemeanor sentences. However, they were just appreciative for something else to do as they worked Friday.
“I love it. I’m very glad we get to do this. It relieves a lot of the stress you have sitting in that cell all day,” Beechum said.
“We have something to do,” added Wray, who has eight months left on her sentence.
Kuhn said because the day lilies had to be planted quickly, he contacted his supervisor about how to accomplish that. The inmate labor was ultimately coordinated by the city’s police department and police department employees supervised the prisoners.
“This probably won’t look good until next year, but eventually it will look nice,” Kuhn added. “This might end up being a pretty spot.”