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Inmates to work, learn skills |
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ATLANTA JOURNAL/CONSTITUTION
Inmates to work, learn skills
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published on: 06/19/05
Decades ago, Georgia ended its notorious policy of leasing
prisoners to individuals and corporations to perform backbreaking
labor, sometimes under the whip and usually while in chains.
Now the state again is looking at the idea of allowing its prisoners to
work for private firms. This time, however, state officials say the
goal isn't to provide cheap labor to lay railroad track, mine coal, saw
lumber or distill turpentine.
Rather, if the program works as hoped, prisoners will learn useful
skills and build a financial nest egg that can help them re-enter
society and stay out of trouble when released.
A state law that takes effect July 1 allows the state to begin laying
the groundwork for the new program. Gov. Sonny Perdue is among its
biggest supporters.
"The more I learn about it, the better I like it," he told The
Associated Press. "Federal law has allowed this since 1979. My question
almost now is, 'What took us so long?' because I think the benefits far
outweigh any potential abuse," he said.
Until 1979, when Congress enacted the Prison Industry Enhancement
program, federal law banned the sale of inmate-made products in
interstate commerce. Now, such sales are allowed when states choose to
participate in the program and meet criteria set by the U.S. Department
of Justice.
Georgia's new law requires the state's director of corrections to seek federal approval to participate in the program.
More than 5,100 prisoners in 34 states already participate. Among
Southern states, South Carolina by far has the largest program with
nearly 1,300 prisoners who make products ranging from wood flooring and
furniture to pet clothing and greeting cards.
Other states in the region with similar programs are Florida with
nearly 300 prisoners; Tennessee with 100; North Carolina with 94;
Mississippi with 51; Louisiana with 18; and Virginia with five.
Pushed in Georgia by a Republican governor and passed by a GOP-run
Legislature, the state's new law actually was introduced by a Democrat
- Rep. Alan Powell of Hartwell. He'd been promoting the idea for
several years.
"I kept telling my colleagues, 'We can't continue to afford the rising
cost of corrections. We've got to do something. Try something,' " he
said. "The bottom line is, these people go into prison, get out, have
no work ethic, no marketable skills, and we wonder why they're back on
the street corner doing the same thing again."
About 1,400 of the Georgia's roughly 50,000 inmates already perform
work behind bars, but for Georgia Correctional Industries, a public
corporation owned by the state that makes furniture, cleaning products
and other products solely for government use. Its prisoner-workers are
not paid.
Under the state's new program, prisoners would apply for jobs that pay
the prevailing wage in the region for work of a similar nature, and the
state would have to assure the federal Labor Department that inmate
labor was not being used to displace employed workers.
The state would withhold taxes from the inmates' earnings and also
would deduct money to pay any court-ordered fines or child support. In
addition, it would deduct some money to reimburse taxpayers for the
cost of the inmates' incarceration - an average $18,000 per inmate per
year.
Some money will go into a savings account for the inmate and some will go into his account at the prison store.
Jerry Watson, director of Georgia Correctional Industries, said it will be some time before the state program is up and running.
"We're taking it slow, checking with other states who have already been
in the business," he said. "You have to investigate the company you're
doing business with. We cannot partner with a fly-by-night
company."
Prisoners won't be allowed to work for companies that
operate telephone banks or use computers. But they could find
themselves rewiring automobile starters or generators, as inmates in
some other states have done, Watson said. Or they might even build
modular homes for the homeless or for low-income families, Perdue
suggested.
There's nothing not to like about the program, the
governor said.
"They have to have a good recommendation within
the prison [to land one of the jobs]. So there is incentive," he said.
"There is still job training that takes place. There is a culture of
working that, in my opinion, is therapeutic in itself."
And the
financial benefits, he said, allow prisoners to meet obligations to
their families, their victims and the state and to prepare for their
future outside prison so they've got more than a bus ticket, $25 and a
suit of clothes.
"A man who's been incarcerated for 10 years who
gets $25 doesn't stand much of a chance," Watson said.
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