The Virginian-Pilot
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VIRGINIA BEACH
They're known as the Orange Team - jail inmates in jumpsuits cleaning roadside ditches. Sometimes they wash school buses, too. Now, Sheriff Paul Lanteigne is eyeing a new job for the team: paper shredding.
He's bought a $40,800 industrial shredder and hopes to train inmates to run it - with supervision. It could save the city money if other departments use the service, the sheriff said.
"People love to see the Orange Team at work," Lanteigne told the City Council at its retreat last week.
The city spends about $22,000 year to shred documents, said Library Director Marcy Sims. "We want assurance that security is maintained," she said.
Ron Mann, president of Stealth Shredding Inc., which has the city contract, said, "I'm all for putting them to work. However, if you're having inmates shred city information, you've just lost all confidence that there's any security at all."
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Better ideal
Let the Orange Team, go to Sheriff Paul Lanteigne's home. And shred his personal papers. If the sheriff purchased this machine, without proper authorization. Then let him pay for it, not hard working tax-payers.
Good Idea but needs to be thought out
I think what the Sheriff is trying to do is a great idea but the truth is inmates are in jail for a reason and at first it might go well but given time to think about what they (inmates) have access to is opening the door to a host of problems from identity theft to information leaks to putting inmates in situations where they could be tempted. It is also opening the door for a big lawsuit against the city, which would cost the tax payers more money. I think the Sheriff is on the right tract to save the city money but this is the wrong place to use inmates. Not to mention the already over worked City employee's would now have to sort paper to be destroyed and have different places to store it and what happens when the wrong paper end up in the wrong pile and we are back to where we started, the city is open to lawsuits. By outsourcing it is not a burden to City employee's and the City saves on benefits and we do not cut more jobs in Hampton Roads...
If the city is shredding
If the city is shredding this stuff because it may contain sensitive info on it, then who in their right mind would let criminals look at it?
If it's OK for criminals to look at it, then why pay to have it shredded at all?
Did the Sheriff buy a $40,000 piece of equipment BEFORE the city said "yes" to his plan? What if they say "no"? Can he return it?
When everyone is being laid off, isn't it just a teeny bit immoral to quit paying a private company for a service and then turn around and pay the sheriffs office to use slave labor to do the same job.
Do elementary schools need to have stuff shredded? Are the inmates going to go into our schools? How 'bout the Treasurers office?
Non-violent includes drug users and check forgers, right?
classify it, then let them shred it
Just like the military does it's documents. Classify those that are sensitive and shred in house as before. The other minutia considered unclssified let the Sheriff's boyz do thier deed. I think folks need to not get TOO far down in the weeds on being scared and not look at alternatives at all. Thinking out of the box is a good thing. With a respectable process it can be done without concerns.
I feel any Sheriff's department needs to continue to find more and more constructives uses of inmates time to benefit or save the city/town's money using non-violent or moderate offenders (mostly young folk) which also clears a few out for the day avoiding the confrontations that typically brew up from all being cramped in there with no outlet. It's jail after all, not Folsom prison.
OMG
THis is such a hairbrain idea. While it is true that not all criminals deal with identity theft and not all the people on the Orange Team are convicted felons, it is ridiculous to do what the sehriff wants to do. How did he spend that kind of money and what part of his budget is so fat that he found it in tough economic times? It's agreat idea putting inmates to work doing something constructive. But this isn't it. I guess the argument could be made that while picking upo trash along side the road an inamte could find some personal information and use it later. However controlled this it is, it makes little sense. But constitutional officers rarely have commonsense and can do what they want until teh voters decide otherwise. But sheriff, if you read these things, you made a bad decision and wasted $40,000 on a lame idea. Next time ask someone with commonsense (not one of your "yes men") about an idea before you jump headlong into the alligator-filled swamp before you forgot to drain it.
Not A Good Idea!
-cont- There are also other costs associated with the shredding process in addition to the shredder like, shredder maintenance which can cost upwards of $5000 per year. There is also several hundred $ per month for the electricty to operate a large shredding machine. I think there is also a potential liabilty for injury to the inmates as operating a plant-based shredding machine can be dangerous. I think City Council should get involved and definitely reconsider this action. More information at www.stealthshredding.com and www.naidonline.com.
What's next?
Now that Sheriff Lanteigne wants criminals shredding confidential documents, what's next? Treasurer John T. Atkinson having them count money?
Another example of Forest Gump syndrome
Stupid is as stupid does!!!
All that is needed on this issue is a little bit of brain power. No wonder the County is going to heck in a hand basket with so called leaders like this.
Not A Good Idea!
I am all for inmates performing work as part of their sentences, but there are many other jobs that could be done; i.e. janitorial, filling pot holes, cleaning the beaches, etc. The inmate population is not the best idea for shredding as any reputable or NAID (Nat'l. Assoc for Information Destruction)certifed shredding company must perform complete criminal history and credit checks in order to hire personnel. Because of these requirements, none of the inmates would be eligible for employment with a licensed shredding company. In addition, the city's contract is for on-site shredding; which is the most secure method of shredding, where the shredding is done by mobile shredding trucks at the city office. By having inmates do the shredding there is a potential for loss of control between the city office and the location where the shredding will be done. It has happened many times around the country where an "off-site" shredding company was transporting material to be shredded and the vehicle was in an accident and confidential information ended up blowing all over the highway. There are also other costs associated with the shredding process in addition to the shredder like, shre
Oh no!
Just wait til the ACLU and Lowell the Hammer get wind of this. Do none of you uncaring, insensitive beasts (I'm sure you're Conservatives) realize how painful and debilitating paper cuts can be?