Clallam County adds chain gang

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Thanks to a grant from the Washington State Department of Ecology, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office has added a third chain gang.

The outfit will be dedicated to cleaning up litter and illegal dump sites on unincorporated public land in Clallam County, sheriff’s office officials said last week.

The $208,000 grant will cover the wages of the correction’s office deputy, new van, dump trailer and tools, they said.

Deputy Ella Mildon will be the first female chain gang deputy and will be running an all-female work crew.

Being a part of the chain gang is strictly voluntary, Clallam County sheriff Bill Benedict noted in a press release.

“A lot of the inmate population look forward to the opportunity to go outside and work as part of a … crew,” he said. “While working on chain gang, the inmates are able to earn up to a third off of their sentences.

“The Sheriff’s department has been working a long time to get a third Chain Gang and looked forward to the possibility that the jail population would make it possible to have a crew of female inmates.”

The department had been operating two chain gang crews over the past 20 years.