[StBernard] St. Bernard Sheriff's Office prisoner crews working on special projects

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Sheriff's Office prisoner crews working on special projects
Print NOLA Community Submission By NOLA Community Submission 
on June 06, 2014 at 11:11 AM, updated June 06, 2014 at 11:14 AM

With plenty of available labor in St. Bernard Parish Prison, Sheriff James
Pohlmann has assigned several trusty prisoner work crews to parish projects,
including one with the Lake Borgne Basin Levee District working on back
levees and canals and one working with parish government on litter clean-up
including removing debris from storm drains.

St. Bernard Sheriff's Office crew works on special projects
Dep. Jason Mayer oversses a work crew picking up debris on the neutral
ground next to the De La Ronde Ruins on St. Bernard Highway in Chalmette.
Photo by Steve Cannizaro
 
"There are many ways we can use prisoner work crews to help public areas in
the parish look good and safeguard the drainage systems to help prevent
flooding in rain events,'' Pohlmann said.

"We are doing that now in several areas, in conjunction with the Lake Borgne
Basin Levee District and parish government,'' Pohlmann said.

Teaming up with the levee agency, trusty prisoners - under the watch of
deputies from the corrections division - have been working for months
helping use equipment on back levees and recently preparing for hurricane
season by removing dead or dying trees along canal banks, using chain saws
and mini-excavators.

Using the prisoners "has been working out well,'' said Louis Pomes, levee
superintendent for the Lake Borgne Basin Levee District in St. Bernard,
which is part of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority, a state
agency which oversees flood risk management for East Jefferson, Orleans and
St. Bernard parishes.

The work crews from the Sheriff's Office are saving taxpayer money by doing
some projects in-house, Pomes said. And, he said, it helps teach a trade to
prisoners to enable them to get a job when they serve out their sentence and
hopefully break the cycle of crime.

Dep. Ryan Laylle of the Corrections Division has been in charge of a work
crew helping the Levee District, which reimburses the Sheriff's Office for
his time, Pomes said.

A prisoner work crew overseen by Dep. Jason Mayer of the Corrections
Division recently began working in conjunction with road crews from parish
government to pick up litter along major highways and clean out debris from
storm drains before the parish cuts grass on public areas.

They have been working on the Louisiana 46 Extension, St. Bernard Highway
and other highways and neutral grounds.

The information in this article and pictures were provided by the St.
Bernard Sheriff's Office Director of Public Information Steve Cannizaro.