Giving back to the community
Jail inmates make quilts, birdhouses
Inmates at the Crow Wing County Jail are giving something back to the community.
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Gathering once a week at separate times in the jail's common room, female inmates make quilts for traumatized children in the pediatrics ward at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Brainerd while male inmates make birdhouses for Salem Lutheran Church in Deerwood.
Marshall Prescott, jail program coordinator with the Crow Wing County Sheriff's Department, said the blanket and birdhouse programs started in 2005 and he plans to continue them through 2006. Grants from Wal-Mart and Salem Lutheran Church fund the blanket and birdhouse programs.
The female inmates make three to four blankets each week. Four people work at a time on a blanket, cutting two pieces of fabric, matching them together and tying them together.
Tina Hathaway is one of the inmates who has worked on the blankets. She said she joined the program because she had always wanted to learn how to make the blankets. She also said its nice to be able to give back to the community.
"I definitely look forward to it. It doesn't hurt to give back, to do something for someone else," Hathaway said. "It's good to see something go to a good cause while you're sitting in jail."
The birdhouses come in precut pieces that need to be sanded, glued together and painted. It takes about two sessions for a birdhouse to be completed, Prescott said.
Not only are the inmates helping people, Prescott said, but they are helping themselves. The programs allow the inmates to gather in a social setting and talk about improving their lives after jail. Prescott even provides the coffee for the projects.
"We're in a negative environment and they get negative if they just sit around," Prescott said. "My job is to teach them that there's more to life. I have to set that example. We keep it positive."
That's what Mike Savage, who's in the jail on methamphetamine charges, enjoys about making birdhouses.
"This is a great deal. It's a chance to get together with the other guys here and talk about what's coming next and to help each other with moral support," Savage said. "We're giving something back to the community and that means a lot. Otherwise we're just locked in a little cell and that's not the happiest place to be."
MATT ERICKSON can be reached at matt.erickson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5857.