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Published online 12/27/2007 12:01 AM

Prison blues get a second chance

By John Green - The Hutchinson News - jgreen@hutchnews.com

A handful of Hutchinson prison inmates are helping warm the homeless with old prison blues.

Through a program started about three weeks ago, the inmates are recycling used prison clothing to make blankets.

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The prison has teamed with the Hutchinson Salvation Army to distribute the thick twin-bed-sized blankets to those in need.

The shirts, pants and blanket-lined jean jackets worn by inmates are already made within the state's prisons. Now, when the clothes wear out, they'll get a second life, said Hutchinson Correctional Facility Warden Sam Cline.

"The idea came up after Gov. Kathleen Sebelius encouraged all state agencies to recycle whatever they could," Cline said. "We threw away a lot of fabric."

Creating the blankets has been a learning process, said Chris Merritt, the prison's business manager and engineer of the project, who also quilts as a hobby.

Even as they showed off the blankets last week, new ideas were surfacing for packaging and distribution. One idea was to create carrying handles out of old web belts.

The first blanket weighed about 40 pounds, Merritt said. Its top and bottom were made of pieced jean material, with two blankets in between.

Now each blanket includes a top made of recycled shirts, a bottom of material from inmate pants and coats - as well as some khaki material from correctional officers' retired pants - and an old sheet and a recycled blanket in the middle.

The inmates on the project, including six previously detailed to sew labels on incoming clothing and three or four other volunteers, use smaller, left-over scraps to make the blankets more decorative and to add pockets the eventual users might find helpful.

"It gives them an opportunity to be creative, to show off their talents," Merritt said.

The process starts by ripping apart and sorting the old clothing. Some inmates then square up the pieces, while others lay them out in a pattern on the concrete floor of the prison's receiving warehouse.

The inmates piece together a top and bottom, add decorations, and then sew the blanket together.

"We have a steady flow of fabric, with 1,800 men here," Cline said. "We've also asked other facilities in the state to share their used clothing. Offenders don't have closets. Each is handed three sets of clothing and they wear those three until they're used up."

The inmates have been producing about two blankets a day.

HUBCO, a Hutchinson company that creates cloth bags, has also agreed to produce a cloth patch with the Salvation Army's logo on it, which will be sewn into future blankets, Cline said.

"We're pleased the Salvation Army has tagged with us on this operation," Cline said.

After the local need is met, the plan is to send boxes of blankets to the Kansas and Western Missouri Division of The Salvation Army and then to Chicago, said Maj. Rick Carroll, local Salvation Army director.

"If the supply is great enough, we'll use them for disaster work, making them available to the Red Cross," Carroll said.

"They're so practical and durable," said Maj. Barb Carroll. "They've already stood the test of time and will continue to do so. It's an amazing idea."