Inmates and Litter Sweep in NC

Over the next few weeks, you may see prison inmates working on roadsides. The Department of Public Safety will deploy hundreds of inmates this month to help the Department of Transportation carry out its annual fall sweep to rid the state roadsides of litter.  During the 2014 Fall Litter Sweep going on now through Oct. 4, state prisons will send minimum-custody litter crews, medium-custody road squads and Adopt-A-Highway participants out to remove trash and debris from along the state’s highways and roads.  “Everyone knows that litter creates an eyesore and an image problem. But littering is not only ugly, it can be dangerous,” said Public Safety Secretary Frank L. Perry. “Motorists who swerve to avoid debris in the road risk losing control of their vehicle.  Litter and debris blowing from unsecured loads on trucks can strike other vehicles, obscure a driver's vision, damage vehicles and even injure drivers.”  The state spends millions of dollars each year cleaning up roadside trash that fills hundreds of thousands of garbage bags, and during last year’s Litter Sweeps, inmates picked up more than 425 tons of trash.