I worked to develop the next segment in my Slave Labor series that would continue where I left off introducing you to the various state prison industries, the products made and corporations partnered with...
But the stories and information rolling in just today forced me to put that segment away once again. The reason for this is new information just received about PIECP operations in North Carolina (2 separate stories) and a PIE program report released by the California Prison Industry Authority (CALPIA) that shows the impact upon that state (in jobs and dollars) by the prison industry operation there. A fourth story just released informs us of the a new call center operation run by UNICOR (federal prison industry).
The new programs in North Carolina that impact upon private sector jobs is critically important to civilians in that state that work in either construction or Dental Prosthetics. New programs in that state are working to use inmate labor to displace civilians in both fields.
First here is the release by the North Carolina Department of Corrections on the seven (7)construction projects underway and using inmate labor instead of civilian construction companies, contractors or workers, and reads in part:
"Inmate labor builds new prison additions at greatly reduced cost
First project complete, 2700 new prison beds coming by 2012"
"RALEIGH – The first of seven construction projects that will add more than 2,700 beds to the state prison system by 2012 is complete, built by inmates working in the state’s Inmate Construction Program. The use of inmate labor on these projects is saving the state almost $27 million in construction costs.
Inmates working in the state’s Inmate Construction Program, which currently employs and trains more than 590 inmates across the state, are building additions to six 1,000-bed prisons that opened between 2003 and 2008. The first completed project is a 504-bed dormitory addition at Scotland Correctional Institution designed to house medium-custody inmates. Occupancy is planned for later this month.
Inmates are building identical medium-custody dorms at three other prison locations as well as two 252-bed minimum-custody units."
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"About 130 of the almost 600 inmates working and learning in the program, are participating in apprenticeships certified by the N.C. Department of Labor. These inmates work toward journeyman's certificates in various construction trades.
"Inmates involved in the apprenticeship program spend 480 hours in classroom learning and complete more than 6,000 hours of on-the-job training before they receive their journeyman's certification. Some inmates have earned journeyman's certification in two or more trades. More information on the Inmate Construction Program is available online at"
The second announcement made in an article released by the NCDOC provides information on new PIECP operations in North Carolina's prison industry. Here are excerpts from the news release:
"RALEIGH – Correction Enterprises, the prison industry division of the North Carolina Department of Correction, is adding four new industries in the coming year to increase the work and training opportunities it provides to rehabilitate inmates. These new ventures add to the 16 industries where Correction Enterprises is already training inmates and providing quality goods and services at a reduced cost to government agencies and other tax-supported entities.
"Framing and matting – A framing shop is now operating within the Quick Copy plant at North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women in Raleigh, providing high-quality framing services to government agencies and state employees. Currently employing four minimum-custody female inmates, the shop plans to employ up to 10 inmates this year. More information on the framing and matting operation is available at http://www.correctionenterprises.com...
"Braille production – A plant to produce Braille textbooks is taking shape at Scotland Correctional Institution in Laurinburg. The plant will employ 24 medium-custody male inmates to reproduce textbooks in Braille for the Department of Public Instruction, the Governor Morehead School for the Blind and state universities. Startup funding for Braille training is provided by a two-year grant from the Governor’s Crime Commission.
"Dental prosthetics – Through the Prison Industry Enhancement (PIE) program, Correction Enterprises has partnered with Dental Quest, a maker of dentures and dental prosthetics, to employ up to 25 inmates at Pamlico Correctional Institution in Bayboro. In partnership with Pamlico Community College, inmates working here will produce dental prosthetics and be trained and certified as dental technicians.
"Environmentally friendly cleaning products – Another PIE partnership with S-2 Clean, a manufacturer of environmentally friendly cleaning products, will employ 10 inmates at the Janitorial Products Plant in Manson. This plant is staffed by inmates from neighboring Warren Correctional Institution.
Again it is necessary to provide a link to the National Correctional Industries Association video I brought to you in my last two segments, to completely dispel the myth that these jobs are for "training" rather than production for profits. Participating industries, corporations, the NCIA and the BJA have relied upon hyperbole and disinformation to keep the public in the dark about the actual uses of PIECP. At every media opportunity all of those involved manage to get "catch phrases" injected into the article or story. They use "training" and state that through that training inmates are "less likely to re offend" saving the state taxpayer money.
However, as I previously informed readers, many studies on recidivism rates for inmates who have received training, have discovered that there is nor real impact upon recidivism. Trained ex-offenders do get hired more quickly than non-trained offenders and are paid more than those without training. But that is the extend of the advantage to the inmates trained under PIECP. Recidivism rates at the conclusion of the standard 36 month ruler used by researchers to compare rates, show no real change in recidivism. Here's one from the Bureau of Justice Statistics on recidivism and another. One study funded by the DOJ, BJA, National Justice Institute and other government agencies, provided data that though most favorable to the program, was still inconclusive as to any real impact upon recidivism.
From the data on recidivism one must conclude that by all the "training" going on in PIECP over the past 30 years, no real reduction in re-offending has been realized...yet the program continues with the same rhetoric being provided to the masses. Why is that? Because the work does provide training to the inmates - but only that necessary to allow them to become proficient at operating the machinery, equipment or performing the production tasks assigned to them. This is precisely why prison industry programs under PIECP always use as many lifers and inmates with lengthy sentences as possible in their production operations. The video provided by the NCIA and BJA clearly show us that training is not the goal, production and savings to those companies that are using inmate labor is the goal. to support this claim, one has only to read the Transition Team Report (click on Fl. Gov-elect team report) to Florida Governor Scott last week. They found that 16% of PRIDE's inmate work force were inmates serving life sentences. Overall 28% of the entire work force were serving 10 years or more and the average sentence of all workers was over 15 years:
"Further, 16% of the inmates working for PRIDE are serving life sentences; the average sentence for the remaining workers is 15.1 years; and 28% of the PRIDE workforce has 10 years or more to serve before being released. This means that few in the PRIDE workforce are being rehabilitated for purposes of reducing recommitment to prison because these workers are not being released to Florida communities at all or any
time soon."
In many states inmates serving life and even double life without possibility of parole are working in prison industries, many for decades or more. Yet the participants continue to tell us the program is necessary for training inmates so they won't re-offend when released.
"Hello...lifers and those without parole will never be able to use their "training" out here!" What the fuck are they doing in such a program in the first place? "Oh, yeah...I forgot it's really about creating profits for the corporations and industries partnered under PIECP."
I've written before about the federal Bureau of Prisons breaking into the call center and telemarketing business. Well, here's a brand new article about the BOP's women's facility in Texas. This facility known as Carswell, is the only women's facility within the BOP that provides medical and mental health treatments to women prisoners. Recently they opened a new call center there. This is just the latest call center operation run by the BOP that uses inmates to field calls from civilians seeking "customer assistance" or "technical assistance".
Many state prisons now operate call centers nationwide. Here's moreinformation and again, here is the core advertising site for Unicor that describes their call center offerings.
So if you previously worked for a business or company performing duties as a call center employee and can no longer find available work in that field, the foregoing may be the primary reason why.
Now on to more information released today: California's Prison Industry Authority (CALPIA) just released their financial figures for 2008-2009. The sales figure for that period - from inmate labor (er, "training") was $282,000,000.00! They had 6,010 inmate workers in the program and generated $234 million+ of the above figure in direct sales.
Here are excerpts from the report cited above:
“CALPIA is a self-supporting government agency. CALPIA sales increased by 50.9% from 1996/97 fiscal year to 2008/09 fiscal year, giving them the largest sales ($234.2 million) of any state’s prison industry in the U.S. This sales increase is noteworthy given that CALPIA can only sell to the public sector. CALPIA has approximately 619 civilian employees as well as approximately 6,010 inmates in California’s adult correctional institutions, operating over 60 service, manufacturing, and agricultural industries at 22 prisons throughout California. CALPIA uses its revenues to cover its costs such as purchasing ram materials, providing inmate supervision, inmate payroll, transporting and distributing its products, acquiring capital, and supporting the central office.
“In fiscal year 2008/09, the CALPIA had sales of $234.2 million. In table 1, the goods and services that were produced by the CALPIA and their contributions toward sales are shown. Other goods and services, of which optical products ($21.5 million) and furniture ($19.5 million) are the largest portion, represents the largest product category with $112.5 million in sales. It is followed by Processed Foods at $32.7 million in sales, Fabric Products at $31.0 million and Agriculture Products at $30.7 million.
"Inmates work approximately 30 to 35 hours a week and received wages of $0.35 to $0.90 per hour. CALPIA inmates contribute an average of 40 percent of their wages if ordered by the court to pay restitution and fees. These contributions help crime victims as well as reducing court processing costs (California Prison Industry Authority, 2008a)."
“Part of the value-added at CALPIA goes into wage payments to employees who spend most of their income in the California economy. CALPIA’s value-added also goes into the operation of CALPIA’s program which provides inmates with job skills and develops good work habits, helping to reduce recidivism.”
Well, there you are - $282,000,000.00 in overall prison industry sales in California alone - generated from inmate labor. The hardest hit industries identified in the study were the optical and furniture manufacturing fields. Much of the work done and sales generated by this prison labor used to be sales generated by private sector businesses and their paid employees. Once again, we see the ever-present rhetoric..."provides inmates with job skills"...and "helping to reduce recidivism" used to justify the sales and ultimately lost jobs in the private sector.
The study/report is careful to point out that if it were not for the prison industries, most of the income from those sales would be lost to the state, as it would have resulted in sales by out of state companies or businesses to Ca. consumers. They ignore the number of California businesses, companies, corporations and employees who were adversely impacted by the loss of sales and jobs.
One important aspect of all this prison labor, PIECP, corporate involvement and wage issues is this: Who can you and I complain to about what is happening?
Even the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is involved in supporting and spreading "training" disinformation. This article describes many of the "partnerships" involving PIECP in South Carolina's Prison Industry operations. It also identifies many of the companies involved nationwide, their products and name brands they are manufactured under. You guys and gal out there who love to wear ball caps with your favorite MLB or NFL team logos? How about that slinky lingerie the wife puts on for those "special occasions?" Check this out:
"Third Generation employed 35 inmates who sewed a variety of leisure wear garments and lingerie that were purchased by J.C. Penney, Victoria’s Secret, and other retail apparel firms. Last year the company’s Leath plant produced more than $1.5 million worth of garments.
"The next time you go to a graduation exercise, notice the colorful gowns the participants are wearing: they may have been made in a South Carolina prison by Jostens, Inc. A Fortune 400 company, Jostens is the largest manufacturer of graduation gowns in the country. It has 43 offices and manufacturing plants throughout the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean Basin. The company’s main gown plant is in Laurens, South Carolina, about 25 miles from the Leath Correctional Facility, a 350-bed prison for women.
"Escod Industries, a division of Insilco Corporation, a Fortune 500 conglomerate based in Columbus, Ohio, operates seven manufacturing plants in the United States. One plant is in South Carolina’s Evans Correctional Facility, a 1,100 bed maximum/medium security prison. Last year, inmate-workers at Escod’s prison plant assembled $16 million worth of electronic cables that were purchased by corporations like IBM and the Canadian-based
Northern Telecom Corporation. Northern Telecom uses Escod’s products in the telephone cables it sells to several Eastern European countries that are upgrading their communication systems to meet the latest European Economic Community standards.
"'Thank you for calling TWA. This is Anita Gomez. How can I help you?' Most of the more than 500,000 callers probably did not realize that the agent delivering this greeting was a youthful offender employed in the California Youth Authority’s Ventura Training School for youthful offenders.
"The Maryland-based Lyon Brothers Manufacturing Company, the country’s largest manufacturer of embroidered emblems, holds the license for manufacturing the emblems of all the teams in the National Football League and Major League Baseball. In 1990, Lyon Brothers established its new Chesapeake Cap Company division in the Connecticut Correctional institution at Somers. The company contacted the Connecticut Department of Corrections because, of all State agencies certified by the U.S. epartment of Justice to sell prison-made goods in interstate commerce, Connecticut’s was situated closest to Lyon’s Maryland location.
"The company employs 18 inmates in Somers, the State’s maximum security
prison, to make baseball caps that are sold to private companies, government agencies, and retail sporting goods stores. The baseball caps worn by Midas Muffler mechanics, police officers in St. Louis, and Little League World Series players are all made by Chesapeake Cap’s inmate employees.
"Unlike some of its joint venture counterparts in South Carolina, Chesapeake Cap has not experienced a turnover problem because the lengthy sentences served in Somers enable the company to limit its hiring to inmates with a minimum of 5 years left to serve on their sentences."(using long term inmates to increase production and limit time spent on raining." (a direct refutation of the stated purpose of PIECP)
Think about this for a minute...this program is a joint effort involving the U.S. government and 42 state governments. So who has the authority to investigate and prosecute violations of the program laws? It should be the U.S. Department of Justice who has ultimate authority for and responsibility of overseeing PIECP. But they sponsor and operate the friggin program, have outsourced their oversight and ignore most requests for investigation or claims of federal felonies committed under the program laws. So who is left to complain to? No one except the DOJ itself. Without pressure from union leaders, labor groups and civilians who have lost - or are losing - jobs to prison labor nothing is going to happen to stop this madness. Wages are going to continue to fall, jobs disappear and corporations involved in PIECP will get even richer in the absence of a grass roots effort to reduce the impact upon our job and retail markets.
This is the crux of the situation. Our jobs are being taken, business sales are declining as prison industry operations nationwide expand their product lines to include items once exclusive to private sector manufacturing. The NCIA and DOJ jointly produced the video recruiting film I linked to above to attract more business owners to bring their production needs into prisons and put it into the hands of prisoners. At the same time companies like OnShore Resources, Inc. have begun to "broker" prison labor to corporations and manufacturers to replace their work-force with prisoners.
Until and unless we take up the fight and bring it to the governments involved, the status-quo will remain the same and more and more of your jobs will slowly and quietly disappear behind prison fences - permanently out of your reach. Letters must be written, complaints filed and advocacy groups involved to overcome what is happening and stop this insidious program before the only jobs left to us are those we'll be assigned to when we go to prison for stealing to feed our families.
Please join this important battle and lend your voice to mine and others out here fighting to save what's left of our private sector industry and manufacturing.