Break From Jail Benefits Museum : Renovation: An unusual partnership is giving inmates a taste of freedom and responsibility while giving the Natural History Museum a face lift.

Cecil Oakes removed his dusty gloves as he took a quick break from stacking lumber outside the San Diego Natural History Museum to ponder his accomplishments.

“I’ll be able to see this work when I get out and say, ‘Hey, I helped do this,’ ” said the 43-year-old Oakes, who when he isn’t working at the museum is an inmate at the R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility in Otay Mesa.

Over the past three weeks, Oakes and four other inmates have dismantled exhibits, torn down walls and painted others in what has been an unusual yet productive partnership between the museum and the prison to complete renovations for a future exhibit.

The inmates, who are scheduled to complete their task by today, are part of the prison’s Community Betterment Crew, which uses a pool of about 80 minimum-security inmates to complete local service projects, said Lt. John Sandlin, of the prison.

“It’s been a very positive marriage so far,” Sandlin said. Michael Hager, the museum’s executive director, agreed.

“We needed this work done because the facility has gotten a little tattered and there was no way we were going to get it done without some sort of creative approach because we didn’t have the funds or the staff,” Hager said.

Hager said the arrangement was made after a museum board member suggested the museum seek the prison’s help in completing the badly needed renovations.

Michelle Glenn, a museum marketing manager, said the inmates’ work has saved the museum more than $10,000.

“They’re over a week ahead of schedule. They’ve worked so fast it’s amazing,” Glenn said.

The inmates are accompanied at all times by a correctional officer and work from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day.

Oakes, who is from San Diego and is serving the final 11 months of a three-year burglary sentence, said the “illusion of freedom” is what motivates him to work quickly.

Other members of the crew derive satisfaction in different ways.

“I feel really good about giving something back to society,” said Luis Diaz Jr., 33, of Los Angeles, who has two months left to serve on a driving-under-the-influence conviction.

“It beats being in prison because you’re doing something constructive with your time instead of being locked in a cell.”

Malford Washington, 41, of San Diego, said taking part in the renovation gives him “a sense of responsibility” while helping him to re-enter society.

The museum exhibit scheduled to open next February is called, “Whales: Giants of the Deep,” and will feature five life-sized robotic whales and a dozen hands-on displays that will explain biological aspects of various whales.