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Saving Tip #1: Utilize Your Inmate Workforce
Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Let’s take a look at some of the jobs your current inmate population could be doing:

• Forestry
• Horticulture
• Farming
• Construction
• Grounds maintenance
• On-site food service
• Janitorial services
• Road work
• And in nearly 140 industries nationwide

Significant savings can be seen in prison operations when inmates are put to work.

• Dauphin County, PA., saves taxpayers huge money with their work-release center. Inmates housed at the center pay rent, pay for their food and medical treatment and take care of the facility. Not only is the work center saving money, but it provides an alternative to simply housing inmates at the overcrowded county prison on East King Street.

• In Windsor, Vermont, a former women's prison was transformed into a work camp for 100 men. The men will be employed in shops that produce signs and license plates and will work in the facility's kitchen and on its grounds crew. No one convicted of violent crimes, including sexual offenses, will be eligible for the work camp.

• Pennsylvania Correctional Industries (PCI) puts inmates at 15 state prisons to work while they serve sentences. Huntingdon State Prison, where Big House brand of products are made, has three operations:
  • A print shop for making hundreds of forms for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and other state agencies
  • A garment factory for making orange and grey jumpsuits and other clothing for inmates
  • A soap factory for making different types of bar soap, de-greasers, hand cleansers, laundry soap and other products

PCI made $34 million in gross sales and $1 million in profits, which was put back into PCI to buy new machines and equipment.

In the midst of funding cuts and budget shortages, follow this blog for our series on cost-savings ideas. Upcoming topics include:

• #2: Shop around for the best deal
• #3: Avoid lawsuits
• #4: Weigh the costs of building new and reusing what you already have

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About This Blog

This blog is a collaborative effort of the Justice group at Performa Inc. It is a platform for dialogue and the exploration of issues impacting correctional facilities, detention centers, homeland security facilities and more. The group is led by David Robillard, President of the Performa Justice Team.