Managing editor
For Jeannie Wildin, co-owner of The County Seat Decorating Center in Marion, the hand-scraped flooring she sells is more than just a product.
It represents hope and a future for prisoners who might not have either, if not for the opportunity to produce the flooring.
Instead of milling the wood to make it smooth and perfect, individuals scrape the wood by hand to give it a worn and unique finish.
The prisoners are located in maximum-security prisons in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, Wildin said. The inmates are paid an hourly wage with portions of their pay going to their victims, to the states to defray costs of incarceration, the inmates’ families, and into an account for the inmates themselves.
“Without the program, the repeat offender rate (for those released) was 86 percent,” Wildin said. “The repeat rate for those in this program is only 23 percent.”
Prisoners are selected through a screening process. Those who have committed crimes against women and children are among those not eligible to participate.
Wildin became aware of the program and the production process through a representative of one of the companies that sells her floor covering.
“A lot of manufactured wood flooring is made in China,” Wildin said. “You can bet that some little kids are involved for pennies a day.”
She said she would rather support companies and programs such as this because, in addition to giving her a quality and unique product to sell, it benefits prisoners and society as a whole.
“This contributes to the U.S. economy and no one is being exploited,” Wildin said.
What makes the product unique is that no two inmates scrape the flooring the same.
“People have their own style of scraping so they do one box at a time,” Wildin said, making each box unique.
Styles of flooring change just like other home interior styles.
“It used to be people wanted slick, shiny wooden floors,” she said. “Now they want floors that look old. We don’t sell near as much traditional oak flooring as we used to.”
Regardless of the trends, Wildin is pleased to contribute to this program by making this product available.
“It’s a good use of their time and they develop a skill,” she said.