Precinct 3 inmate work program taking shape

Van Zandt County drivers may soon be getting some relief from the wear and tear their vehicles receive by traveling on local roads from an unlikely source courtesy of the newly minted program being put in place by Precinct 3 Commissioner Keith Pearson.

Throughout the 2016 election cycle, Pearson’s platform included his hopes of utilizing inmates from the county’s jail as part of a supervised work crew to help fix potholes and clean up county roadways.

Those plans were officially put in motion a short time after Pearson’s win in the Republican primary with the newly elected commissioner taking the unique step of attending jailer’s school. In an interview conducted shortly after being sworn in, Pearson explained that in order to attend the school he had to receive a sponsorship.

Pearson praised then Sheriff Lindsey Ray and current VZC Sheriff Dale Corbett for their support throughout the process. “You can't just go to jailer school. You have to have a sponsor. In order for me to go, I had to have an agency sponsor. I contacted the sheriff's department and talked to Lindsey Ray. The sheriff's department has bent over backwards to help me. They should be commended. The jailer's school was lengthy - it's 96 hours of training. That's a two-fold deal. It's for me to be able to sit up on the court and have a little bit of knowledge about how that jail is supposed to be run, mainly so that when the sheriff or someone from the jail comes we've got to have this, this and this, I'll know what they're talking about. Secondly, I plan to work a five to six-man inmate crew. It has been done to a smaller degree in times past, but not to the degree that I plan on doing it.”

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