Let’s keep these guys rolling

   Alfred Caldwell and Kenneth Able could just lie around in their cells all day. Some inmates do that. But not these guys. They’re out every chance they get rolling fresh paint over gang graffiti in Gwinnett County.

   When the Georgia General Assembly passed a bill permitting prison inmates to clean up gang graffiti on private property, Gwinnett County jumped right on it. With well over 100 identified gangs in Gwinnett, the task is never ending and ever expanding. Lieutenant Scott Pickens, who heads up the graffiti operation said learning all the gang symbols is part of their in-service training.

   For Caldwell and Able the symbols are like a second language. 

   “Sometimes you see a sentence with all the B’s changed to C’s or C’s changed to B’s. It doesn’t make sense to look at it, but we can tell it’s either the Bloods or the Crips,” said Caldwell.

   Pickens commended Caldwell and Able for their hard work, noting they’re the most active inmates in the graffiti paint-out program. He showed me photographs from simple swirls on telephone poles to elaborate neon murals that Caldwell and Able painted over. Both men have graphic memories of gang related vandalism.

   “We painted over a broken down van and one neighborhood was really bad with graffiti on the street,” said Caldwell. 

   “The worst I saw was at Garden Ridge where the wall was 650 feet long to however high I could reach,” said Able, who stands well over six feet tall.
In 2005, Gwinnett County inmates painted—and repainted—over 300 graffiti sites.

   “We’ve painted some neighborhoods over and over again, sometimes 10 or 12 times. We don’t know when it’s ever going to end. But then there are neighborhoods right across the street with graffiti and no one ever calls us,” said Able.

   “Our service is absolutely free, but some people are afraid of having inmates on their property,” said Pickens.

   No need to fear. This is one of the most prestigious details in the prison system and in order to roll with the program, inmates have to work their way up. If they cause any trouble, they’re sent back to the recycling detail in the landfills, which in every way, Caldwell told me, is really the pits. While painting, inmates are supervised by an armed guard. And if they missed a spot, you know where to find them. Sounds like a better bet than some of the guys landscapers pick up on street corners.

   Ordinances are in place to fine property owners who do not remove graffiti within a reasonable time. Gwinnettians can do it themselves, pay a professional, or let inmates do it in their “free” time.

   If you have gang graffiti on your property, in your subdivision or place of business, call Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful at 770-822-5187. Caldwell and Able are ready to roll.


011506

Archive