North Carolina Department of Correction news release

APRIL 10, 1998

Prisoners help state reuse old highway signs

CARTHAGE - Stacks of old highway signs are piled outside the Correction Enterprises highway sign reclamation plant at the old Moore Correctional Center. The signs have been bent, painted or faded.

"As Transportation workers replace highway signs, they gather the old ones," said Tommy Richardson, plant manager. "When Correction Enterprises delivers the new signs made at the Franklin Correctional Center plant, the old signs are collected and brought here."

The signs are sorted by gauge and size. Signs that can be saved are run through the plant’s large sanders that buff the metal clean. The signs are then sent to a contractor for chemical processing and returned to the Franklin prison sign plant. Some of the damaged signs can be cut down to use for smaller sized signs. Others are sold for scrap.

Up to ten inmates who are bused in from the Sanford Correctional Center work at the plant helping to reclaim up to 1,200 square feet of metal each day for new highway signs.

The medium security prison closed three years ago and now is home to the highway sign reclamation plant and a T-shirt plant.

-bp-