PA Hopes to Allow Businesses to Employ Inmates
Pennsylvania corrections officials hope to allow private businesses to employ state prison inmates to teach more of them the job skills and work ethic they will need upon being released.
The state Department of Corrections is asking lawmakers to sign off on a bill that would authorize state prisons to join with private companies. Inmates would work at the prison, typically in manufacturing or parts work, for a company.
But with Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate hovering around 9 percent, the effort faces an uphill battle with lawmakers and labor officials, who see their constituents struggling to find work.
“This is where it’s going to be a real tough sell,” said state Rep. Thomas Caltagirone, D-Berks, the Judiciary Committee chairman who introduced the bill in the House. “Many members have high unemployment in their districts. … (But) I don’t want to miss the boat on this if it’s something that can help our commonwealth.”
Under the bill, inmates working for a private company would be paid wages similar to others working in the industry outside of the prisons, while inmates who work existing prison jobs make 17 cents to 42 cents per hour. Businesses could not replace current workers with inmates and would have to prove that there is not a surplus of available workers in the area before teaming with the prisons.
Inmates working under the plan would keep only a portion of the higher wages. Federal, state and local taxes would be withheld, as would a fee for room and board, contributions to victims’ support programs and support payments that would be sent home to their families, officials said.
Corrections officials said the program would teach inmates job skills and a strong work ethic in a realistic setting and would cut down on idleness in the prisons.
They said that in many cases, the jobs offered to inmates would be those companies are unable to fill.
Pennsylvania Correctional Industries, a program that employs about 1,550 inmates systemwide to make items such as inmate clothing and soap and to print forms and publications for state agencies, has waiting lists at the 15 institutions that offer it, program director Tony Miller said.
Miller said the program is limited in where it can market its products — only to state agencies and some nonprofits — so the program could not be expanded to accept more inmates. He said the partnerships with private businesses would be a way of employing and training more inmates because products made under those agreements could be sold on the open market.
But lawmakers and labor union officials at a hearing this month found it hard to stomach the idea of law-abiding citizens searching for work while corrections officials create new agreements to employ more prison inmates.
Without their support, John Coyne, the director of legislative affairs for the Department of Corrections, said it would be all but impossible for the bill to move forward.
“It just escapes me that there are not enough people out there to fill the jobs who are currently on unemployment,” said Rep. Deberah Kula, D-Fayette.
Russ Keating, of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, said he supported the idea of helping inmates by providing job training, but said his group’s members have major concerns about the proposal.
“Our problem is, you’d have to convince us this program would not displace law-abiding citizens,” he said.
Frank Sirianni, of the Building Trades Association, echoed the concerns. “The economy of today makes it tough to absorb this type of (plan),” Sirianni said.
A new board would be created to approve the partnerships, and Sirianni said lawmakers could drum up support from union leaders by giving labor representatives a seat on that board as well as veto power.
“That goes a long way to making this more palatable,” Sirianni said. Without the ability to veto, labor representatives could always be outvoted on partnerships their members oppose, he said.
An identical proposal is before the state Senate Appropriations Committee. The plan was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee last month. Caltagirone said he anticipates “a need for a lot of amendments” to the proposal.
Uncategorized