NC’s Inmate Labor Programs A Victim Of Budget Cuts
George Peacock, the coordinator for the Pamlico County Historical Association’s Heritage Village, has nothing but good things to say about work crews that have built a blacksmith shop and old school house on the county museum grounds. The workers are inmates from Carteret Correctional Facility in Newport, and the future of their Community Work Program is in doubt after the new state budget eliminated 127 supervising officer positions. Report from ENC Today.
“That upsets me, because these folks do a lot of good work, not only here but for towns in the county,” Peacock said. Without the free prison labor, the historical group couldn’t afford the $20,000-plus to build the blacksmith shop. The elimination of the positions was a $4.7 million cost-cutting measure, although state prison officials are looking at options to salvage the 15-year-old program. It involves more than 1,000 inmates statewide.
Mike Hardee, superintendent of the 300-inmate minimum-custody Carteret County prison, was optimistic that the program can continue in some fashion, and is confident none of his officers will lose their jobs. He said enough vacancies exist in other areas of the prison to absorb the work program officers. As for the non-profit groups and towns that now enjoy the free labor, one possibility is they could pay for the prison labor. “It may be that they (state) would keep some programs in strategic locations throughout the state,” he said. Hardee added that state corrections officials are discussing the matter in Raleigh this week.
While the community work crew program fell to the budget axe, the inmate liter pickup program with the state Department of Transportation was not affected. Scotty Golden, the work program officer overseeing eight inmates Thursday at the Pamlico Heritage Center, said his crews have done ditch-cleaning, woodworking and painting in a number of Pamlico towns, including Bayboro, Oriental, Minnesott Beach, Arapahoe and Stonewall. He is one of four Carteret officers, each overseeing an eight-inmate crew that works 10-hour days Monday through Thursday throughout Pamlico, Craven, Jones, Carteret and Onslow counties. “We’ve done a lot of ditching and cut back trees,” he said. “If they had to pay for it, it would cost them a pretty penny.” While the labor is tax-payer funded, it does not come as a direct expense to small towns, which normally operate on rather bare budgets.
Inmates Jason Crockett of Virginia Beach and George Jackson of Wilmington said the work program was a positive part of their prison reform. “It’s better than just spending idle time. It’s a chance to learn to build stuff, and help the community,” said Crockett, who was a car salesman before drawing jail time for a marijuana conviction. Jackson, who said he was serving time for “driving while drinking,” owns a granite countertop business, which continues to operate while he completes a 14-month sentence. “It (work) is a chance to use your brain instead of it turning to mush,” he said, while helping Crockett build a large wooden bench.
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