PLATTSMOUTH–The city of Plattsmouth and Cass County Sheriff’s Department are working together to get things done.
“They have a jail full of people and we’ve got work to be done,” Portis said. “Just like every other government entity, there is not enough money to go around.”
Portis met with Cass County Sheriff Bill Brueggemann several months ago with a solution. “I asked him to put together a work crew of trustees for simple maintenance.”
Lt. Jeff Lickei is coordinating the project. “Mondays and Fridays, when there is no afternoon court, they give us a crew of up to four trustees who are going to be out in our parks and right of ways to pull weeds, mow, prune shrubbery and do all the things that get neglected to a shortage of time and money,” Portis said. The first crew went to work two weeks ago.
“Last Friday, they were at Rhylander Park for four hours. We have beautiful gardens down there but need some help maintaining them,” Portis said.
Brueggemann said the program was a positive arrangement for some of the trustees.
“I think it’s great if we can give a service back to the public when the time and money are available. The trustees enjoy getting out of the jail. Some want to repay their debt to the public and some just like a change of scenery.”
Not all of the trustees can participate in the program, he said.
“We have a limited number available, because they also help in the kitchen and scrub the jail floors,” Brueggemann explained. “Every year we try to take some inmates to the fairgrounds to help out there.”
The ones chosen to participate must be non-violent, have no major drug offenses and pose no escape risk. “Three-fourths of our prisoners are also from other counties, and cannot participate. I know the public wants to see them out there. You hear about them staying in tents in Nevada, but we must remember the idea of the chain gang is a thing of the past. They are not sentenced to manual labor, they are sentenced to jail. I have to be cautious, because they are not always available, and they have to want to do it.”
Although there are many hardened criminals in the jail system, there are also many who are good people willing to pay their debt to society. “A lot of these people are not bad people. They just made poor choices. They want to help and get out of the jail.”
There are costs and liabilities that go with the program as well.
Deputies must accompany the trustees while they work, and the deputies must be paid for their time. If a prisoner would get injured on the job, the county bears the responsibility of medical care.
“Sometimes we have to weigh the benefits with the liability,” Brueggemann said
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