Barnstable County inmate Sean Koch works on re-installation of dropped ceiling in the selectmen’s spacious meeting room inside Harwich Town Hall. The six-inmate crew also re-did the dropped ceiling in a conference room adjacent to this one. The job also included an expert patch and repaint of the interior walls in both rooms.
Inmate Gary Richter applies first new coat to paint above the chair rail in conference room. The two-day job, which included a town DPW worker to supplement the paint crew, brought more than $2,600 of donated inmate labor to the project. That figure is based on a state calculation of what is called “independent sector labor” value. “Which is better,” Sheriff Jim Cummings asked rhetorically, “an inmate who stays on his unit all day or one who at least in part sings for his supper? I’d suggest the latter.”
This optical illusion has inmate Jason Ribeiro appearing to apply paint to the outside of town hall when in fact what you see here is a mural – and a very large one at that. Ribeiro is actually painting a blank wall that intersects with the mural wall. The crews are racing toward year’s end, and when they arrive there in a few days the results should be promising: They’ll likely have given the Cape’s municipalities and non-profits close to another $500,000 in donated inmate labor. That’s about what was expended in 2014.
Media release and photos furnished by Barnstable Sheriff’s Office
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