Despite his bright orange Department of Corrections hat and gray pants stamped with the word INMATE, Cliff McClure almost felt like he wasn't in jail.

In a quiet Rapid City neighborhood Monday morning, McClure and a handful of Rapid City Minimum Security inmates jumped from a van and began shoveling the snow dumped from a recent storm.

"It makes you feel like you're not really in jail; it gets your mind off things," he said.

McClure volunteered for the Department of Corrections Scoop It Program, which involves inmates shoveling snow for local residents who are unable to shovel their own driveways and sidewalks and can't afford to pay someone who can.

Residents who are interested call the United Way and go through a screening process to become eligible for the service. The program is in its third year, and inmates from the Jameson Annex of the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, the South Dakota Women's Prison in Pierre, juveniles from the State Treatment and Rehabilitation Academy, and minimum-security units in Yankton and Rapid City take part.

Scooping snow is not the only work the inmates do.

According to the DOC, more than 600 inmates are employed in community-service projects statewide. In Rapid City, inmates work for several organizations and companies, including the Department of Transportation and the U.S. Forest Service.

Inmate crews also work on forest fires during the summer and do forest thinning during other parts of the year. According to the DOC, inmates worked more than 174,000 hours on fires between 1999 and 2007.

DOC Communications and Information Manager Michael Winder said the programs are successful because they give inmates a positive outlet.

"It's the same feeling they get when inmates in the prison (system) knit stocking caps for people and make wooden toys," he said. "It's just something they can do to give back. It's a good feeling to do something positive."

On Monday morning, RCMS Officer Kirk Lynch stood on Grand Boulevard, listening as the men sucked in the cold morning air and broke the silence of the street with the metal scrape of their shovels. They had 138 houses to visit that day. It was the second time in a week; they shoveled snow at the same houses Friday.

For McClure, 30, who is serving a seven-month sentence for driving under the influence of alcohol, it's more than just a breath of fresh air.

"A lot of it is just doing it to help," he said, particularly the elderly and the disabled. "It's nice when somebody opens the door and says thanks."

But there's also some redemption in it, he said.

"Some of us feel like it's paying a debt back to society," he said.

Lynch said he's never had a problem with any of the inmates trying to escape.

"These guys are too close to the end of their time," he said, adding they are all within five years of being released.

He said he think it's an outstanding program.

"It gives them a sense of pride," he said.

McClure will be released in May, and he said he plans never to see the inside walls of the minimum-security unit again.

"They won't catch me having a beer and driving anymore," he said. "I accept my punishment, because I broke the law. It's been a growing experience for me. … Most everybody in (the security unit) are not bad people, we just made some poor decisions. … You learn from your choices and you get back into society."

Contact Kayla Gahagan at 394-8410 or kayla.gahagan@rapidcityjournal.com