NCJ Number
89101
Date Published
1982
Length
51 pages
Annotation
Highway construction and maintenance should use more prison labor in Virginia, prison industries should increase their printing and data processing service and try to sell their products to the private sector, and work release should be extended to jails.
Abstract
Approximately 10 percent of the Virginia's prison population is idle each day and another 10 percent is underemployed. The State operates 21 prison industries in 20 locations, including furniture manufacturing, signs and license plates, data processing services, printing, and laundering. Prisoners who work receive a base rate of 40 cents per day plus incentives for productivity. State law prohibits buying and selling prison products and services on the open market with a few narrow exceptions, but State departments, agencies, and institutions have not been significant customers for prison industries' goods. Startup costs for prison industries are very high, and the Department of Corrections (DOC) has budgeted only enough to maintain the status quo since 1976. However, the 1982-84 budget includes funds for new or improved prison industries, and construction plans for three medium security facilities include small shops to employ inmates. The DOC also uses prison labor on farms, its construction projects and road construction. The Department of Highways and Transportation would like to reduce the highway construction jobs, claiming that prisoners cannot perform the work productively or operate the equipment. The DOC has four work release centers and two work release programs which have been generally successful, but the latest budget contains no funds to expand these efforts. The Rehabilitation School Authority provides occupational-vocational training, postsecondary education, and apprenticeship training to inmates and cooperates with the DOC in planning new programs. The report contains specific recommendations to improve work opportunities for inmates, texts of relevant legislation, and statistics on individual correctional industries.