It's a far cry from breaking rocks in the hot sun on a chain gang. In the Adirondack village of Saranac Lake, N.Y., inmates break ice on a frozen lake to make a giant winter palace.

A work crew from an area "shock" prison camp once again this year helped local volunteers create this mountain village's lakeside ice palace. The palace serves as the centerpiece for the annual Saranac Lake Winter Carnival, starting Friday.

Inmates from Moriah Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility worked alongside the volunteers this week breaking off ice blocks. They sawed through ice and applied slush like mortar between blocks in the palace walls.

Warm weather and rain complicated palace construction this week. Volunteers planned to get back to work Friday and fix up damaged parts of the palace.