March/April 2006

Men in Orange

Inmate workforce programs save taxpayers money and help beautify our region.

By Patrick Evans-Hylton

Fashionistas will be the first to tell you—it takes a lot to pull off orange.

The right skin tone, the right hair color; it all has to work together to avoid looking like one of Willy Wonka’s Oompa Loompas. Of course, all bets are off if an orange jumpsuit is the only clothing item in your closet.

Across Hampton Roads, men in orange are a pretty common sight. They can usually be spotted along the roads, prefaced with a sign that reads “Inmate Workforce.” “It’s a program that works and saves the taxpayers a good amount of money,” says Virginia Beach Sheriff Paul J. Lanteigne.

Inmate workforces can be found in just about every municipality in Hampton Roads. Officials say they help much-needed public works projects get completed and save a bundle from municipal budgets as well.

Last year, almost $10 million was saved regionally by using inmate labor and avoiding paying city/county employees or contractors to complete work including painting, recycling paper, trash removal from city streets, mowing and landscape details on city and state property.

But don’t get the wrong idea about these workforces (images of men strung together, bonded at the ankles). Chain gangs are a 19th-century concept. The idea behind them was more punitive than constructive; inmates were mistreated, and labor was mostly non-productive.

The inmate workforce programs of today have inmates complete specific tasks, reinforce skills they may already have or teach them new ones so they can be more productive once their sentence is up.

For the rest of this story, see the March/April 2006 issue of Hampton Roads Magazine, currently available on newsstands.