Freedom Gets It Done In Swampscott

These guys have a lot to lose if they screw up and a lot to gain if they play by the rules.

The Essex County short-timers said what they gained last week by working in Swampscott was freedom.

"It relaxes the mind to get out," said Tommy Ventura, 27, of Derry, NH.

"It's just a little bit of freedom," said his brother, Alexander Ventura, 25, of Pelham.

"It gets you out — for sunshine," said Joe Dudley, 40, of Lynn.

The eight inmates are in the prerelease program at The Farm, an Essex County minimum security correctional facility in Lawrence.

Town Selectmen David Van Dam, chief of staff for the mayor in Haverhill, said inmates from The Farm do community service in Haverhill.

So, he thought, maybe they could do some work in Swampscott.

Swampscott's head of , Gino Cresta, said he could use the help.

Not only did the Essex crew get needed work done but their help freed up regular DPW crews for other projects such as raking seaweed from beaches, the DPW director said.

The inmates' work saved the town an estimated $7,000, Selectman Van Dam said.

The Essex crew trimmed weeds and brush back from the boardwalk at Phillips Beach.

They filled a sinkhole along the access path from Phillips Park to Eisman's Beach.

And they cut back cane-like plants and whacked away weeds along Essex Street sidewalks.

By all accounts they did a good job and all went well.

Corrections Officer Christopher Tibak, a 27-year veteran of the Essex County Corrections Department, supervised the crew.

The only problem they ran into was working around poison ivy, he said.

Assistant Superintendent of Essex County Corrections, Frank Garrison, said the crews have to earn the right to be part of the outside work crew.

They get 30 days once they arrive to The Farm to prove they can do the outside work.

Once they qualify their duties include moving furniture and power-washing graffiti from public buildings. 

The program organizers do not go looking for jobs but if their help is requested they do what they can.

And since many of the county's towns are strapped financially the help comes in handy.

A work crew is expected back in Swampscott for another week of work later this month.

The Ventura brothers, who are masons by trade, and Dudley, a plumber, will be all for taking up rakes, weed whackers and blowers.

The sun, fresh air and work help them sleep better at night and the days go by faster.

"You go (back to The Farm), get back in bed, get up and start over," Dudley said.