News 2 Special Report: Inmates shredding government documents

When you fill out an application, or pay your taxes, you give out some pretty sensitive information to the government. But have you ever wondered what happens to all those documents and all that information once they've finished with it?

What if we told you that boxes of these forms and documents actually end up with a group of inmates in Columbia? For some areas of government in the Lowcountry, that's the case.

Charleston County and the City of Charleston have contracts with the state Department of Corrections to shred their old documents. Berkeley County occasionally uses the inmate shredding as well.

News 2 checked into the safety of this practice.

"I have great confidence in their program and in the state's oversight and I have seen from working with their crews for three years that they are extremely careful with the records," Charleston's Records Mananger, Susan Welsch said.

Three times a year, inmates arrive to take boxes of records from the City of Charleston.

"The labels on those boxes are removed, all markings are obliterated and the boxes are sealed four times," Welsch explained.

There is a varity of paperwork in those boxes includung permits.

"Copies of applications for a various things where the application is no longer required... there are personnel records more than 5 or 6 years old. The person has either retired or left the city's employment," Welsch said.

In the Lowcountry, the bulk of the shredding load comes from Charleston County Government.

"Last year we destroyed 87 tons of records with [the Department of Corrections]. This year we're up to 30 tons," Charleston County Director of Internal Services, Mike Filan said.

Once a month, the inmate truck comes in to pick up a truck-load of documents.

"They took 27,000 pounds of records from us just last month," Filan said.

"We've not had any breeches of security and we've been very please with the service so far," Filan explained.

Leaders say the biggest gain from the inmate shredding is the cost cutting and tax payer savings.

"We estimate that we are saving upwards of $50,000 to $60,000 a year," Filan said.

"That crew does have armed guards with them. They are very closely supervised at all times," Welsch added.

"We've been assured by the state Department of Corrections that the inmates are searched when they complete their tasks," Filan said.

News 2 took a trip to the state's shredding facility in Columbia for a better look at the program and safety measures.

"We have 27 inmates that work here in the recycling center. Right now we are serving 62 state agencies, colleges and local schools," Albert Rosenthal with the SC Department of Corrections said.

Rosenthal says the inmates are carefully selected because they are in such close contact with your personal information.

"Most of the guys that we get in here are in here for maybe a DUI or a drug offense or something to that affect," Rosenthal said.

He said that inmates who are involved with forms of identity theft are not a part of the program. Supervisors and correctional officers say they want to calm any public fears.

"It's really not what they think. We're not in a prison setting. We have a warehouse," Rosenthal said.

While in the warehouse, the inmates have no contact with the general prison population. All breaks and lunch are taken in the warehouse.

While there have been no security problems in Columbia, that wasn't the case in New Hampshire. In 2009, there was a security breech in a warehouse of documents waiting to be shredded. An inmate collected 1,000 corrections employees' personal information; including their social security numbers.

Supervisors say that meassures are taken to prevent this from happening in South Carolina.

"They are searched prior to leaving here and also once they return to their prison setting. They are searched once they go into the gate at that institution," Rosenthal said.

From the pick up truck to the shredding facility, the inmates are always in sight.

"[The facility] is watched by the correctional officer. We do have a monitoring system here. Cameras in the building, where we are able to sit and watch what is going on," Rosenthal said.

The South Carolina Department of Revenue, the people who handle your taxes, are the largest clients of the recycling facility. But, officials say this is nothing to worry about. They said that those sensitive tax documents are probably the most secure at the facility. Those forms arrive already shredded.

 "Then we would shred it again before it goes out. It looks like little granules. When it comes out... like a powder substance," Rosenthal said.

With all the extra safety precautions and scrutiny, some would argue that the inmate shredding facility is safer than a commercial facility where employees are not watched nearly as closely as the inmates.

"We handle the documents a lot better than some of the other companies out there," Rosenthal said.

The recycling program started in 1993.

"We want to make sure that we choose a secure and accountable records destruction agency and in this case the state Department of Corrections have the most cost effective and secure way to dispose of expired county records," Filan said.

In the past, Charleston County used an incinerator to destroy the records. The City of Charleston used to use the county incinerator for some records and used some records in firefighter training exercises. Officials believe the state recycling program was more secure in addition to being environmentally friendly.

Some state agencies have left the inmate recycling program. The Medical University of South Carolina once used the inmate labor. They switched to in-house shredding in 2007. A representative said it was better financially for MUSC to shred the documents themselves as they are now making money selling the paper. They said they could also eliminate any possible breeches in confidentiality by using their own screened and trained staff.

The Department of Corrections's recycling program generates about $350,000 every year. Officials said it saves tax payer money by going directly back into the system.

Officials said it also serves as an inmate rehabilitation initiative by giving the prisoners skills that will help them find jobs once they complete their sentences. Most of the inmates in the program are less than two years from their release dates.