250 bags per day, distributed in South Okanagan
6 prisoners at the Okanagan Correctional Facility in Oliver are stuffing close to 250 sandbags a day, to be used as flood protection.
The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen approached the Correctional Centre with the idea, and have also committed to bringing in more equipment to increase the bag production to upwards of 4000 per day.
Cindy Rose, a spokesperson for BC Corrections says, “The Regional District is picking up the finished sandbags and are using them wherever they’re needed, between Summerland and the Canada-US border.” And she says there’s no end-date in sight, “We’ll go as needed. We’re happy to help out with this as long as The District needs us.”
Rose doesn’t think any BC inmates have ever been sourced for sandbagging, “I don’t believe so, with sandbagging efforts, however inmates are continually in the community with various work projects as requested by The District.” Those would include things like trail maintenance or picking up trash alongside roads.
