Bingham County kicks off inmate labor program

Bingham County is working to clean up their community with the new inmate program.

Inmates, like Pete Olmos, work four days out of the week to not only shorten their sentences but also get a second chance in their community.

“Everybody thinks because you’re locked up and because you caused trouble in the community, you don’t deserve a second chance,” said Olmos. “With this we actually have an opportunity to try and better ourselves and grow with it.”

Olmos and the other eight inmates do odd jobs around the community, mowing lawns at county facilities, cutting back trees at local parks for summer recreation and collecting trash throughout the community. Sheriff Craig Rowland said these jobs used to cost the county time and money, but now major projects are completed in less than an hour. But Rowland said the county isn’t the only one benefiting from this program.

“We wanted the inmates to have something to look forward to,” said Rowland. “For every two days they work for me, they get one day off their sentence. So they can start being productive members of society and maybe this can help train them in a skill.”

County officials said they have had success during the first three weeks of this program. They already have dozens of inmates waiting for an opening. They said more inmates want to be involved with the program, but inmates need to have sentences of at least a few months to a year and approval from a judge.