Posted December 27, 2025
The Town of River Falls Park Committee, which oversees maintenance and safety at all town-owned parks, has adopted a new method to help with physically demanding park work: supervised inmate labor.
The committee is responsible for several local parks, including Anderson Park, Birch Cliff Park, Halverson Park, Hillwood Park, Rocky Branch Park, South Ridge Park and South Valley Park.
Maintenance efforts are typically carried out by volunteers and committee members, but limited manpower has led to the search for alternative solutions.
Four members of the committee, which include Chair Garrett Gill, Co-Chair Brad LaBadie, and board members Mary Foster and Greg Elliot, shared details about their recent and future usages with inmate labor.
According to Gill, “The New Richmond Correctional Facility has inmates that are essentially on good behavior, that they allow to do supervised work in the community.” The city has already used these inmates for various projects, but Gill explained, “This is the first year the parks have used them and it worked out very well.”
As stated by Gill and Foster, they had them for one day about two months ago, and are now getting them back for a second day, which will be Sept. 29.
According to the committee, they typically receive a group of five to eight inmates. Foster described them as “young and strong workers.”
The cost to the committee is $300 per day, which covers approximately six hours of supervised labor.
In accordance with the committee, they do a great job and get some of the physically demanding tasks that others can’t do. The committee joked, “It’s hard to just get up there, let alone work.” The parks taking advantage of this labor is a great idea and one that should be followed by other park committees around. It’s cheap labor, gets the inmates out in the open, and gives them a
chance to help out the community.
The article may be found online at https://uwrfjournalism.org/2025/12/inmate-work-program-aids-river-falls-park-maintenance/.