By Alan Johnson
The Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Inmates at the Belmont Correctional Institution intended to help the state’s bottom line by taking 1-ton rolls of bulk toilet paper and processing them into small rolls for use in prisons and rest areas.
Ohio Penal Industries, a branch of the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, does much more — making and selling a wide variety of products beyond those normally associated with prison labor, such as license plates, flags and office furniture.
Inmates make brooms, clothing, corrugated boxes, dentures, eyeglasses, hand soap, mops, office binders and outdoor furnishings, among other things.
Is it really saving the state money?
Probably not.
The inmate-processed toilet paper sells for $48.96 for a case of 96 rolls. The Department of Administrative Services, the business arm of state government, has a contract with Joshen Paper & Packaging Co. of Cleveland to purchase it for $41.33 a case, about 15 percent less.
When you use $1.4 million worth of toilet paper a year, as the state does, the extra cost of the inmates’ TP adds up. The state contract with Joshen dropped to less than $100,000 in sales when prisons began processing toilet paper.
Trash bags are much the same. Ohio Penal Industries sells 33-gallon trash bags in quantities of 250 for $13.39 to prisons and the Ohio Department of Transportation. The state’s private vendor offers comparable bags for $7.30, a 45 percent savings.
Even if the prices are not always competitive, state agencies are locked into buying from Penal Industries by state law, with some exceptions.
“State law requires that state agencies purchase through OPI if OPI can meet the state agency need,” the state’s purchasing handbook says. “In the event of an emergency or a special need, OPI may grant a waiver to the agency to purchase items elsewhere.”
To get a waiver, a state agency must jump through hoops by identifying the product, its price and the supplier, citing the OPI equivalent product and justifying the need for a waiver.
“We’re following state law as the legislature dictates to us. We don’t really have a choice in the matter,” said Administrative Services spokesman Pieter Wykoff.
“I don’t know if we’re saving money in the long run, but there’s also the practical application of training the inmates to do something productive when they get out, so they don’t come back to prison and cost taxpayers more money.”
Drew Hildebrand, assistant chief at Ohio Penal Industries, said he’s working to make prices for its products more competitive with outside suppliers’.
“OPI got into the toilet-paper business about two years ago. We thought we could manufacture toilet paper and sell it to institutions at a lower price than they could buy it from suppliers.”
So far, that hasn’t happened, but Hildebrand said he hopes to drop the price of the product to keep it in line with other vendors’.
Inmates at Belmont make the cardboard cores and run the $600,000 machine that cuts and rolls the toilet paper. They then package it for distribution.
Penal Industries has grown from a program to keep inmates busy and out of trouble into a business with $26 million in annual sales, 24 manufacturing sites in 16 prisons, 1,400 inmate workers and 120 civilian employees.
Prisoners are paid from 21 cents an hour for entry-level laborers to $1.23 an hour for skilled positions, such as mechanics who service state vehicles.
“We’re pulling the inmates out of the dorms and providing them meaningful industrial training,” Hildebrand said. Former inmates who worked for OPI return to prison at a much lower rate than those not in the program.
“Sometimes, it may not look like OPI is doing what’s best for all agencies, but anytime we can provide a savings and provide training, it’s a plus,” he said.
The newest inmate job: refurbishing Dumpsters.
Hildebrand said he also is courting business with halfway houses, county jails and community colleges.
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