McALESTER, Okla. \u2014 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a> across the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n J.B. Sharp, a Pittsburg County road foreman, said the inmate crew was \u201ca great help to us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI just feel like it was giving back to the community,\u201d Green said. \u201cThe inmates felt the same way. It\u2019s an army of orange.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n