Drivers along county roads will soon see something new — prisoners picking up trash.

The county already uses state inmates from the Fayette facility to clean up roads, but since the project is funded by the Mississippi Department of Transportation, the inmates can only be used on state roads.

Now, county inmates will soon be picking up trash along county roads.

At their last meeting, the county board of aldermen approved funding for the sheriff’s office to hire someone at roughly $10 an hour to supervise the county inmates.

Adams County Sheriff Ronny Brown said his office was looking at hiring someone with previous training to supervise the inmates.

“Hopefully, we’ll hire someone who works here, who has been through corrections school,” Brown said. “If not, we’ll send them to school.”

Brown said he hopes to have inmates out on county roads in the next couple of weeks.

“It’s going to make a difference,” he said. “It might take a while to get going, but after we get it going, we can keep it clean.”

The trusties, or trusted inmates, will work in groups of six for four or five days a week. Whether it’s a four-day or five-day week, the hours will balance out, Brown said.

And the inmates will be supervised closely.

“We’ll pick them carefully, only nonviolent inmates,” Brown said.

Most inmates like the chance to get out of the jail, even if it means they have to work, he said.

Also, some of those who owe fines to justice court or circuit court will have the chance to work them off by picking up trash.

Currently, county workers bear the responsibility of picking up trash along county roads.

The new inmate program will ease the county’s workload, Brown said.

“I think it’s going to be good,” he said. “It’s a little extra work on us, but it will benefit the county. We’re tickled we get to do this.”