Alternate Labor

Sheriff’s Labor Assistance Program (SLAP)

Many County agencies that have a County Jail incorporate a Sheriff’s Labor Assistance Program (S.L.A.P.) into their clean communities’ program to augment cleanup of county roadways, waterways and parks.  A work detail comprised of 4 – 10 low risk inmates are chosen from the jail population and the group(s) are under continual supervision by two officers from the Sheriff’s or Corrections department.  

Grant funds may be used to offset officers’ salaries, inmate wages (if applicable), used to purchase bags, safety vests, signs, gloves and grabbers and may be used for disposal costs. 

The goal of the project is to clean up debris and litter in community parks, County and Municipal roadways

The Corrections Center works with local officials or clean communities coordinator to determine areas in need of litter pickup.  Targeted roads or parks can be scheduled on specific days or on an as needed basis. 

A Clean Up Report that consists of the date, location(s) and amount of litter picked up. All clean up statistics from these reports are transferred into a simple excel spreadsheet for tracking purposes that are used on the year-end Clean Communities Report. 

This program provides a way for counties to incorporate a year-round and consistent litter clean-up program on busy roads and park areas.  It also provides the County Coordinator with litter activity and tonnage numbers, which is a requirement of the Clean Communities Grant.

This program gives the inmates an opportunity to give back to their community while they are incarcerated and may even reduce their sentence.

NJDEP Clean Shores Program
Division of Water Monitoring and Standards, Bureau of Environmental Analysis, Restoration and Standards

According to the NJDEP website, “The Clean Shores program is a free statewide service that removes floatables such as wood, garbage, plastics, medical waste, and recyclables from tidal shorelines with the use of state inmate labor.”

Click on the Schedule a Clean Up tab which explains the details about which cleanups are eligible and provides contact information.