WATCH: Brevard County Jail Inmates Partner With Brevard Zoo To Aid in Recovery of Indian River Lagoon
By Wayne Ivey, Brevard County Sheriff // February 28, 2019
initiative requires hundreds of thousands of Oyster Bags
WATCH: Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey introduces BCSO’s partnership with the Brevard Zoo that utilizes inmate labor to make Oyster Bags to aid in the recovery of the Indian River Lagoon. (Fox 35 video)
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office and Brevard Zoo introduced during a press conference on Wednesday their new partnership that utilizes inmate labor to make Oyster Bags to aid in the recovery of the Indian River Lagoon.
The idea was first brought to us by District 4 County Commissioner Curt Smith who was aware that the Brevard Zoo was looking for volunteers to build the Oyster Bags as part of their effort to help the Lagoon.
As a result, our agency developed the partnership to have the inmates build the bags that are subsequently strategically placed in the Lagoon by the Brevard Zoo Team.
The initiative that will require hundreds of thousands of Oyster Bags is extremely labor intensive and is made possible because of the “Shuck and Share” partnership that the Brevard Zoo has with 13 local restaurants.
The restaurants each collect their empty Oyster Shells to donate to the project, which is then delivered to the processing area at the Brevard County Jail. Once the shells have been quarantined for 90 days, the inmates load them into the bags for eventual placement into the Lagoon.
This initiative is yet another great partnership our agency has with our community to help keep Brevard County a great place to call home.
As I always say, “It takes a community to protect a community,” and programs like this one, not only help save our Lagoon but also help save taxpayer’s thousands of dollars.
I would like to personally thank Commissioner Curt Smith and Fritz Van Valkenberg of Commissioner Lober’s Office for attending today’s press conference as well as Keith Winsten and Jody Palmer of the Brevard Zoo for all they have done to make this project possible.
And of course, I want to thank the inmates and our Crew Supervisors who are actually the ones out there every day doing the hard work of assembling the bags to help our Lagoon.
– Sheriff Wayne Ivey
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