Today, prison inmates are a huge drain on taxpayers, despite the millions of available hours of healthy, prime-age labor they represent. Prisons originally were intended to be self-supporting. Increasing productive work for prisoners requires the repeal of some federal and state statutes and clearing away bureaucratic obstacles. Throughout the nation, a score of exceptions to the federal restrictions on prison labor have been authorized, provided the inmates were paid a prevailing wage, labor union officials were consulted, other workers were not adversely affected and the jobs were in an industry without local unemployment. A survey commissioned by the National Institute of Justice identified more than 70 companies that employ inmates in 16 states in manufacturing, service and light assembly operations.
Prisoners sew leisure wear, manufacture water-bed mattresses and assemble electronic components.
Such work benefits everyone. It enables prisoners to earn wages and acquire marketable skills while learning individual responsibility and the value of productive labor. It also ensures that they are able to contribute to victim compensation and to their own and their families support while they are in prison. A 1991 study by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons found that only 6.6 percent of federal inmates who had been employed in prison industries violated their parole or were rearrested within a year of their release vs. 20 percent for nonemployed prisoners. By the end of 1994, the Private Sector Prison Industry Enhancement program had 74 private firms employing 1,663 prison inmates to manufacture goods ranging from circuit boards to bird feeders to graduation gowns.