On October 16,
2017, the St. Mary’s County Detention and Rehabilitation Center, (SMCDRC), had
their first Community Work Team project.
The Community Work Team is a new program where non-violent, sentenced
inmates, incarcerated at the SMDRC participate in projects to better the
community. This new initiative is also part of an on-going Community “Outside”
Detail where inmates have for several years assisted in many areas of the
county with clean-up projects. This
particular project consisted of two inmates, supervised by correctional
officers, picking up trash and debris along the roadside of Pegg Road, and
Chancellor’s Run Road, in Great Mills. In a two hour period ten large bags of
trash and debris were collected.
As of today, two additional clean-ups in the community
have been completed which removed additional bags of debris and trash. There are ongoing plans to increase the number
of inmates and correctional officers to the detail in the near future. The
Community Work Team project is beneficial to St. Mary’s County by improving the
environment and quality of life for our citizens. The Community Work Team project provides
inmates an avenue to do something useful with their time and offers them the opportunity
to give back to the community. This
program compliments ongoing efforts at the SMCDRC to teach skills, and earn
equivalency degrees to reduce the recidivism rate within the county’s
correctional system.
