ROCKVILLE, Ind – Motorists traveling the highways of Parke County, from early April to the end of July may have noticed bags of trash and debris neatly placed at regular intervals along the sides of the roadways. Those bags had been collected and placed there by offenders from the Rockville Correctional Facility.

Offender work crews were out from every Saturday and Sunday for the duration of the project which consisted of picking up, and bagging trash along the edge of the road to the opposite edge of the public domain (tree row). At the end of each workday the crews would collect all the bags for transport to a local refuse center.

The offenders were supervised by correctional staff, and worked approximately 400 hours, covering 160 miles of highway, and collecting 671 bags of trash.

Crews cleaned both sides of State Highways 36, 47, 59, and 236, as well as U.S. Highway 41 between the north, south, east, and west boundaries of Parke County.

RCF Major Randy Smith commented, “I’d like to express my appreciation to all the staff who worked out the logistical challenges of this project, as well as those staff who supervised the offender work crews. Obviously, this effort could not be the success it is if not for the offenders who were assigned to the crew. Great job by everyone involved. Thank you all.”