The Missouri Department of Corrections’ work release program has more than 65 incarcerated crews that spend more than 133,000 hours a year removing litter. They also spend many more hours performing other maintenance tasks along Missouri roadsides.

The work done by incarcerated crews saves MoDOT time and resources, allowing transportation crews to perform other much-needed tasks. Replacing the labor done by inmates with full-time staff would cost MoDOT an additional $16.7 million per year.

“This program helps stretch our resources,” said Don Hillis, director of System Management. “By having inmates do these roadside tasks, it allows our employees to do more on our roads.”

Each day, about 400 inmates from 14 correctional institutions across the state volunteer to participate in the program and are then screened by the DOC to determine eligibility. Inmates typically pick up litter, remove brush, mow, prune and install some erosion-control devices. DOC-trained MoDOT personnel closely supervise the crews.

“This program is really a winning situation for everyone involved,” Hillis said. “Missourians get more work for their tax dollars, MoDOT accomplishes more and the inmates gain valuable work habits while cleaning roadsides.”

Incarcerated crews also participated collecting litter during April’s No MOre Trash! Bash. The work release program has been operating successfully since 1987.