(Oklahoma Department of Corrections)
After being stranded in their home for over a week after a powerful tornado blocked their access road, a mother and her three children were finally rescued last week by an “army of orange” – a volunteer group of incarcerated men from a close-by prison.
The severe weather that struck Oklahoma’s Pittsburg County on May 19-20 left numerous properties damaged and roadways impassable, and this family’s remote location made their situation particularly dire after the tornado blocked the only path to their home with a massive number of fallen trees and an assortment of other debris.
(Oklahoma Department of Corrections)
With local emergency crews overwhelmed by widespread storm damage, county officials turned to social media with an urgent request for assistance. Margaret Green, Warden at Mack Alford Correctional Center, spotted the plea online and quickly mobilized resources. “I saw on Facebook they needed help – manpower specifically,” Green said. “I immediately thought about organizing a work crew to assist.”
Nearly a dozen minimum-security incarcerated men volunteered for the storm cleanup mission, bringing much-needed relief to the overextended local crews. The incarcerated people, who must meet strict security and behavior standards to participate in community work programs, cleared a path to the isolated home in just hours, quickly accomplishing a task that would likely have taken county crews days to complete.
(Oklahoma Department of Corrections)
“They just cleared a path to a house, and the lady hasn’t been out since last Monday,” Green noted. “It’s an army of orange making a real difference for storm victims.”
Brandon Boring, one of the participating incarcerated people, was quoted in a press release issued by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections as being glad to help with disaster recovery. “All a man needs to do is atone, and they’ve given us a chance to do that,” Boring said, continuing, “If you let a man atone, we can actually go back and be great members of society.”