A program to tear down more than 600 condemned houses in Pine Bluff using people on probation or parole kicked off in October.
The pilot program, developed by the Arkansas Department of Community Corrections and State Senator Stephanie Flowers was voted the No. 10 story of 2015 by the staff of The Commercial.
The program will provide job training in demolition and materials salvage to inmates who are about to be released on parole and are considered likely to re-offend and to probationers who are required to obtain employment or job training as a condition of their probation.
Just after 8 a.m. on Oct. 19, a backhoe began ripping into a house that had previously burned at 1506 W. 19th Ave., and a half dozen men wearing hard hats and masks stood by to pick up the materials.
In January, the Pine Bluff City Council voted to accept a grant of $830,000 from the Arkansas Economic and Community Development Commission that will fund the program for two years.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Mayor Debe Hollingsworth has said the program will start with 10 inmates, then will add 10 more every three months until a maximum of 40 is reached. The inmates will work for six months before being released and Dina Tyler, Deputy Director of the Department of Community Corrections said at some point, the inmates will be expected to help pay for the program by paying a portion of the money they receive for the work to help cover the room and board at the state-owned facility where they will be staying.
When the city accepted the grant, Hollingsworth said the workers will start in the areas with the highest crime rates.
“This is an opportunity for change,” Hollingsworth said as she watched the first house on the list being torn down. “A structure like this frequently invites a certain type of criminal activity.”
Among the conditions imposed by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality was a requirement that water would be sprayed on the houses as they were being torn down to reduce the possibility of asbestos getting into the air.
Also, the city will be able to tear down only one house per block per year.
Community Corrections officials have said if the program using parolees is successful, similar programs could be implemented in other parts of the state.