NCJ Number
155213
Date Published
1993
Length
28 pages
Annotation
Restorative principles and benefits of prison industries are discussed, and model prison industry programs are described.
Abstract
Prison industries differ in how they provide meaningful work, based on the objectives they want to achieve. These objectives relate to prison management, inmate job readiness and training, and profitmaking or reduction of prison costs. Prison industries should foster work ethics, restitution, the development of a productive work force, and well-managed correctional institutions. Essential to restorative work is the payment of restitution. Restitution provides an important financial and symbolic connection between the offender and the victim, and prison industries that promote restitution encourage inmates to take constructive steps to help those they have harmed. Prison industries are especially appealing because they provide tangible benefits to the offender, the victim, and the community. The government also benefits from reduced costs. Based on the principle that prison industries should foster work ethics, such industries should be required to compensate inmates for their labor, preferably at market wages. Several types of prison industries currently exist: the employer model in which the private sector pays inmates directly; the customer model in which a government-owned factory sells its products to a private sector company; the state use model in which the state operates an industry and sells the goods, usually to a restricted government market; and the government-owned corporation model. Examples of prison industries that uphold restorative principles are cited.