Inmates step up to create PPE for first responders

HENNING, Tenn. — Tennessee inmates are stepping up to help combat a pandemic.

A news release from the Tennessee Department of Correction says inmates at the West Tennessee State Penitentiary are creating and donating personal protective equipment.

Those in the TRICOR textile program were originally manufacturing Tyvek gowns, but later switched to producing cloth masks, according to a release from the Department of Correction.

The department says they have already created and shipped over 20,000 masks to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, staff and inmates at TDOC facilities, county jails, highway patrol and more.

“The masks have small details so it took a little bit of time to learn how to make them, but once we got them we have been able to produce around 3,400 a day,” said Quinton Sanders, who entered the TRICOR program in 2012. “Our goal is to make 5,000 a day.”

In the release, Sanders says it has been fulfilling to help provide masks and gowns to others.