Commissioner Sansom asked Dr. Davis what has caused the decline in sales to government. In response, Dr. Davis stated sometimes government has money and some it does not, but it could be a number of thing including price. Vice-Chair Nichols stated that there have to be other issues besides price. She asked if quality and delivery would be other issues. Since then wages have increased.
Security is one of the biggest issues for vendors.
It is baffling that there are only 2,300 inmate nationwide working in PIE programs because the program has so much potential. Dr. Davis further discussed the potential of the PIE program. Dr. Davis was asked why the PIE program has not succeeded. She believes one explanation may be that the private sector has realized there are a lot of inefficiencies in working inmate labor such as monitoring tool control, security concerns about weather, difficulty getting materials in and out the prison, and location. Dr. Davis stated that Representative Victor Crist submitted a bill two years ago requesting that inmates have ten years or less left on their sentence in order to apply.