State inviting companies to prisons again
By Joseph Turner
The News-Tribune
WASHINGTON — Four years after they were thrown out of Washington prisons, private companies are being asked to come back to provide jobs to inmates.
The state Department of Corrections has hired a recruiter to contact chambers of commerce across the state to drum up employers for its born-again Class I Correctional Industries program. The recruiter also is contacting the companies that used to have employees working for them inside the prisons.
There once were as many as 300 inmates working in the top tier of the Correctional Industries program. But the state Supreme Court ruled in May 2004 that the program ran afoul of the state constitution, so the DOC shut it down and told more than a dozen businesses to clear out.
Last November, voters changed the constitution so prison officials could again invite private companies to set up shop inside some of Washington’s 17 prisons and provide jobs and training to prepare inmates for their eventual release.
State Sen. Debbie Regala, D-Tacoma, one of four state legislators who sits on the Correctional Industries board of directors, said it took a while to persuade her fellow lawmakers to put the constitutional amendment on the ballot. Unions and private businesses were – and still are – concerned that prison programs might have an unfair competitive advantage over those on the outside.
For instance, a company that operates inside a prison may not have the same overhead expenses of rent or utilities that a company outside the prison does. On the other hand, outside companies don’t have to deal with frequent employee inspections by guards or the work stoppages that arise from a prison lockdown.
“We made it really clear that when we recruit new industry, we make sure we’re not recruiting someone who will be a challenge for other businesses,” Regala said. “We will have to do an analysis of the business plan to make sure nothing poses an unfair advantage over private-sector companies,” she said of board members.
Correctional Industries has other programs. For instance, the Class II program allows inmates to make furniture and other products, but only if they are bought by state agencies, other governments or nonprofit organizations. They can’t be sold to the public.
“We have 32 businesses statewide – optical, food, furniture” and more, said Danielle Wiles, policy and performance manager for Correctional Industries. “For instance, we make eyeglasses for the Department of Social and Health Services and the Department of Corrections.”
The appeal of the Class I program is that its jobs pay wages comparable to those in the private sector, anywhere from minimum wage of $8.07 an hour to $10 to $12 an hour. The state used to have seamstresses, welders and other jobs in the Class I program.
By contrast, an inmate working in a prison cafeteria was paid 42 cents an hour in 2004.
“All the wages are set by Employment Security,” Wiles said. It’s a federal requirement and all jobs and pay are reviewed by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, she said.
Those higher wages give inmates the ability to pay part of the cost of their incarceration and pay into a victims’ compensation fund. In some cases, it also enables them to make child support payments.
The jobs also better prepare inmates for their eventual release by giving them real work experience, Regala said.
The News Tribune tried to contact Inside Out Inc., a clothing and accessories manufacturer that once provided jobs to 23 inmates at the Corrections Center for Women in Purdy. But the phone numbers that were in use in 2004 had been disconnected. Likewise, the newspaper was unable to contact Allied Metal Fab, a company that operated inside the state prison complex at Monroe, Snohomish County.
It appears both went away after the four-year hiatus.
Regala said she’s hopeful the program can reconnect with the companies that had been working inside the prison walls.
“We’re not relying simply on those folks who were there before,” she said. “But I’m confident we know how to get ahold of them. Some of them have stayed in touch with us.”
Regala said she’ll find out more when the board meets Sept. 19 in Tumwater.
Said Wiles, “We’re just making initial contact with a few companies that have shown some interest.”
She said she hopes companies will begin returning to prison by the beginning of next year.
The lawsuit that led to the end of the original Class I program was filed in 1999 by a water jet company that was getting competition from a similar company operating inside the prison at Monroe.
The Supreme Court justices ultimately ruled that the state constitution prohibited the use of inmate labor unless it was to benefit the state. The amendment to the constitution that was approved by voters in 2007 specifically allows prison work programs so long as they don’t unfairly compete with private-sector companies.
A nine-member board comprised of labor union officials, business representatives and the public will make that determination for each company that wants to set up shop inside the prison. Regala is one of four legislators who are nonvoting members of the board.
The return of the program comes as the state is ramping up its Offender Reentry Program, which is designed to give inmates the schooling or job training they need to have a better chance of succeeding once they get out of prison, instead of returning to a life of crime.
“It’s very important to connect those folks who are transitioning back into the community – and 97 percent of them do – with a viable occupation and skills,” Regala said. “If we can get them connected to a job and keep them employed, they can support their families in the same ways the rest of us are trying to do.”
Copyright 2008 The News-Tribune