Oklahoma inmates clear debris to free family trapped for more than a week

McALESTER, Okla. — A work crew of inmates cleared the way for a woman and her three children to finally be able to leave their rural Oklahoma property more than a week after a tornado caused widespread damage, state officials said.

The crew was still at work Friday after clearing out numerous downed trees to give the family a path out from their home in the community of Blanco, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections said. About a dozen tornadoes touched down in Oklahoma on May 19 as severe storms moved across the state.

J.B. Sharp, a Pittsburg County road foreman, said the inmate crew was “a great help to us.”

Margaret Green, warden at the Mack Alford Correctional Center, said she put the crew together after seeing a post on social media saying the county crews needed help. Nearly a dozen minimum-security inmates volunteered to join the cleanup, keeping at it for nearly a week so far. Inmates on such crews are supervised and only inmates who meet specific security and behavior standards can participate, the department said.

“I just feel like it was giving back to the community,” Green said. “The inmates felt the same way. It’s an army of orange.”