April 11, 2014 1:00 am • By Becky Malkovich0
DU QUOIN — A collaboration between state and private entities put 12,000 sandbags in reach of those affected by flooding — at no cost to taxpayers.
Inmates at the Illinois Department of Corrections Inmate Impact Incarceration Program in Du Quoin shoveled about 126 tons of sand into bags Thursday as part of a joint effort by IDOC, the Du Quoin State Fair and Nikki’s Place, a video gaming business with 13 Southern Illinois locations.
The business donated the sand and about 12,000 bags and the boot camp and inmates donated the labor.
The fair is providing covered storage for the bags.
The collaboration was the idea of the donor and Thomas Spiller, warden at Pinckneyville Correctional Center. The Du Quoin camp is a satellite of the Pinckneyville facility.
“Everybody benefits,” Du Quoin IIP superintendent Clem Campanella said. “We’re being proactive and doing this in advance so if there is flooding we aren’t all of a sudden trying to coordinate the effort. These are ready today for anybody in an emergency situation.
”Inmates convicted of non-violent offenses are sentenced to the camp that offers educational, work, community service and physical activity opportunities.
via Inmates lend a hand: Partnership forms to fight local floodwaters.
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