There appears to be nothing about “cheap labor” that cities don’t like.

Ears perked up recently when the state Department of Corrections said it would be reviving its inmate labor program and that about 40 inmates at the going rate of about $2 a day would soon be available for landscaping and cleanup tasks. Report by Tulas World.

Jenks, Glenpool, Collinsville, Owasso and Tulsa have expressed an interest in the program.

Jenks and Glenpool have already approved DOC contracts.

Due to budget constraints, the DOC canceled its contract last year with Avalon Correctional Services, which housed the community-level beds for offenders on public work crews.

DOC spokesman Jerry Massie said those inmates are now being housed by Avalon at a halfway house at 302 W. Archer St.

Jenks Public Works Director Robert Carr said that Jenks started using nonviolent and non-sexual offenders to supplement its workforce in 2006. It was discontinued in June 2009.

“Since that time, we’ve really missed those people to support us,” he said. “There’s a lot of competition with other communities for this type program.”

Carr said they are hoping to get a seven-person crew for about $1,170 a month to help them with grounds and right-of-way maintenance, landscaping, weed eating and other jobs.

“The communities in Tulsa area have been hurt by not being able to have the program,” Carr said. “That labor pool was very helpful to us.”

Carr said they didn’t have significant negative issues with inmates in the past and that they had even ended up hiring some of them.

City Manager Mike Tinker said offenders like working in Jenks.

“These folks are convicts, but we treat them with respect,” he said.

The inmates do jobs that might not get done otherwise, Tinker said.

He said inmate crews will be useful in cleanup work and renovation projects at the former state Department of Public Safety building, which is planned as the future site for the Police Department.

Deputy Director Ann Domin of the Indian Nations Council of Governments has been in discussions on the issue with DOC Director Justin Jones.

“What this program does is it not only allows cities to have an inexpensive source of labor for maintenance and grounds keeping functions, but it also is really in the best interest of the public as well because it means that inmates are working, rather than sitting in prison cell all day long,” Domin said.

“They are being paid very nominal amount but that will help them when they are released, and it prepares them for an actual job when they are released.”

Owasso spokeswoman Chelsea Harkins said the city is a strong advocate of the program and will be discussing it in the coming weeks.

“Owasso was the first city in the metropolitan area to benefit from the program. It saved us thousands of dollars over the last 20 years,” she said.

Tammy Oklahoma, Prison Workers, Work Programs

PENNSVILLE TWP. — Members of the board of education are considering whether to take up an offer to use free inmate labor to perform repairs at the district’s schools.

Salem County Sheriff Chuck Miller presented the idea to the board here recently saying the district could benefit by using the Sheriff’s Office’s Inmate Labor Detail. Report by NJ.com.

“Inmates can help with facility work. We have had a conversation two years ago, and we want to go ahead and revisit that possibility and what kinds of work they are doing to facilitate facility renovation,” Superintendent Dr. Mark Jones said.

The inmates would be from the Salem County Correctional Facility which Miller oversees.

According to Miller, the inmates would do free repair work such as painting during off-school hours.

“We’re here in a support role, to work along with any particular project. We take it anywhere from painting to carpentry skills. Any particular project you feel we can help with,” Miller said.

Miller said the crew could be between six and 10 inmates with an officer for supervision.

“We aren’t here to put you into any type of harm’s way or danger,” Miller said, adding the inmates are not hard criminals. “For the most part, the inmates are in jail for things like traffic fines to child support warrants.”

The inmate program has benefited other municipalities, including Elsinboro Township, Lower Alloways Creek Township, Mannington Township, and Alloway Township, the sheriff said.

Board member Lisa Ascali asked about the feedback from other school districts, and if they had expressed any concerns with the inmates working on facility work.

Miller responded that the overall response was positive and the other townships have asked when they can return to do more work.

“The board is receptive to the idea. There is a lot of painting to be done throughout the district. It’s an ongoing job itself,” Jones said.

According to Jones, the next step is to take a look at the types of jobs that can be done and put together a list of the possible work.

“Then we will reach out to the maintenance supervisor that works with Sheriff Miller to arrange jobs and invite the maintenance representative to come out and talk about those possible jobs,” Jones said.

According to Jones, once everything is clarified, the board will try to schedule something that fits the needs of what the inmates can do.

“The major question would be the supervisory,” Jones said. “The board is comfortable with any work they do that would be done when school isn’t in session.”

Miller said the inmates would have direct supervision and would only do facility work during off-school hours.

“We will look at the calendar, and whenever there are breaks in school, when students and staff aren’t there,” Jones said.

Miller said the service is free of charge and the only thing that needs to be supplied is the paint for the paint jobs or necessary costs associated materials for any repairs that are needed.

“This is a service that the county is providing and encouraging all municipalities to participate in. Any church or municipality that needs service, it’s free,” Miller said.

Tammy Inmate Labor, Inmate Programs, New Jersey, Work Programs

In the next year or two, the state may see a reduction of 1,500 inmates who work on firefighting crews.

In effort to satisfy a state mandate requiring counties to take on more state prisoners to reduce prison overcrowding could have a drastic impact on the California’s inmate firefighting program. Report by NBC LA.

In the next year or two, the state may see a reduction of 1,500 inmates who work on firefighting crews, as less serious offenders serve time in county lockups instead of state prisons.

It’s the first time officials have said how many inmate firefighters might be lost to the realignment.

California’s inmate firefighting program is the largest in the nation. Fire crews perform 2.5 million hours of emergency response work per year, according to Cal Fire Spokesperson Daniel Berlant.

Currently, there are between 4,300 and 4,500 inmates who participate in the program, Berlant said.
In Los Angeles County alone, there are five camps.

The Sheriff’s Department has opted to take over the five LA County camps.

“It is our goal to maintain this valuable public safety program for the citizens of the County and we do not want to see it disappear,” said Nicole Nishida, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s media relations representative.

But most sheriffs say their counties can’t afford the $46.19 a day the state plans to charge for each prisoner sent to the camps, said Curtis Hill, a lobbyist for the California State Sheriffs’ Association.

Counties also are concerned about the cost of inmates’ transportation and medical care, said Rosemary McCool, a lobbyist with the California State Association of Counties.

“Fire camps certainly could be, will be, a good opportunity for us, but we simply can’t do it at those rates,” said Butte County Sheriff Jerry Smith, who heads the sheriffs association’s effort on fire camps.

Additionally, the pool of non-violent prisoners will decrease if the system remains as is, said Berlant.

The Public Safety Realignment (AB 109) signed by Governor Jerry Brown addresses the issue of overcrowding in California’s prisons.

Under the state bill, formerly sentenced inmates in state prisons may now be housed at the county level. The law took effect on October 1, 2011.

The Cal Fire Conservation Camp Program has been in existence since the 1940’s and operates in conjunction with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and the Division of Juvenile Justice.

The program consists of non-violent prisoners, housed at conservation camps in 39 statewide locations. Typically, inmates spend a three-year duration at the camp, participating in community service projects.

Tammy California, Inmate Programs, Prison Realignment, Work Programs

ABU DHABI — The ‘Injaz” Programme, being conducted by the Punitive and Correctional Institutions of the Abu Dhabi Police in collaboration with Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT), has successfully trained 251 of the 270 inmates, who attended the programme.

“The two-year training programme qualifies prisoners to enter the local labour market by learning practical, professional and individual skills and avail the job opportunities as per the professions they specialised in,” said Colonel Mohammed Yousouf Al Zaabi, Director of the Punitive and Correctional Institutions at the Abu Dhabi Police. Report by Khaleej Times.

He said: “The professional productive workshops include carpentry, painting, cement blocks production, tailoring, automobile mechanics and heritage products training programme, which is conducted in conjunction with Culture and Heritage Authority.”

He said the Abu Dhabi Police took efforts in cooperation with HCT to qualify inmates by using latest educational methods in a way that ensures their social and human rights and helps to go back to practice their day-to-day life after their jail term.

“The programme has been approved after conducting several studies which revealed that there were no scientific, psychological and social programmes that qualify the inmates after ending their jail term to enter the labor market,” Captain Sultan Mohammed Al Niadi, Head of Qualification Section at the department explained.

He said: “This has prompted the Abu Dhabi Police to plan training and qualifying programmes for Emirati inmates, which enable them to obtain academic and vocational certificates that help them get good job opportunities after being released, and return to normal life to be able to serve his family and the society.

Injaz Programme qualifies inmates to enter the labour market after the end of their jail term, as well as helping them to integrate in the society, Captain Niadi said.  He outlined the conditions for admission to the programme, saying that the inmate should be medically fit and should pass the aptitude test. Selected inmates will undergo personal interviews, which will be conducted by a committee from HCT.  After completing the programme, the inmate can complete his studies as per the conditions set by the HCT.  He will also be issued a conduct certificate to get a job in government or private sector. He said one of the graduates is now working in a media institution and another graduate is now a manager in a petrol pump.

Tammy Abu Dhabi, Work Programs

For inmates in the Gallatin County jail work program, it just got a little more expensive to wear a distinctive orange clothing emblazoned with the words ”Gallatin County Inmate” while whacking weeds.

Sheriff Jim Cashell got the go-ahead from county commissioners Tuesday to charge inmates $10 to participate in the work program. Cashell said the fee was always part of the bargain but that his office “got away” from charging it in recent years. Report by Belgrade News.

The money, he said, will cover administration costs.

“With the increase in the number of folks (in the work program), we wanted to recoup some costs,” he said.

Local judges have been assigning more people to the work program rather than putting them behind bars, he said. State law allows some nonviolent offenders to work eight hours a day in lieu of sitting in jail.

Offenders receive credit for two days in jail for every day they work, and most have their sentence completed in less than five days.

“We have two vans of folks now, so it’s doubled,” he said.

In addition to charging the fee, the commission also agreed to ban cell phone use among offenders who are serving their time in the work program, he said.

In other business Tuesday:

• Commissioners appointed three new members to the Gallatin County Fair Board. Kwinci Tatarka, Betsy Heckel and John Shellenberger each will serve for two years.

The board was recently increased from seven to nine members, fairgrounds manger Sue Shockley said. The board has numerous subcommittees and members wanted to boost the board’s size to spread the burden around more.

“They wanted to increase the size because there is so much going on,” she said. “It’s good to have more input.”

The fair board is looking at several improvements to the facility as part of its master plan. The plan includes more ice rinks, a swimming facility and an events center, among other items. The board is also working with the city of Bozeman, Montana State University and local climbers to construct an 85-foot climbing tower to lure international climbing events to the area.

• The commission granted a preliminary plat extension for the Gateway Village minor subdivision. The land is owned by Bozeman resident David Loseff and is the potential site for a high-end RV park along U.S. Highway 191 near Gallatin Gateway.

The minor subdivision predated the RV park. Loseff has said he doesn’t want to give up the minor subdivision plat until the trailer park idea is more finalized.

Tammy Montana, Work Programs, Work Release

California state corrections officials are proposing to make the massive budget cuts ordered by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger by reducing the number of ex-convicts on parole by more than 25% and allowing prison inmates to shorten their sentences by completing rehabilitation programs.  Reported by the Los Angeles Times.

The plan, outlined [on Friday] by Schwarzenegger’s corrections chief, Matthew Cate, resembles past proposals offered by the department that have met with strong opposition from local law enforcement officials and have ultimately been withdrawn.  But in a concession to those groups, Cate said his agency would propose legislation enabling police to search former prisoners and seize their property without a warrant for at least three years after their release, even if they are not placed on parole.

The plan would reduce the number of parolees monitored by the state by more than 30,000 from the current 114,000. As a result, fewer would also be sent back to prison for parole violations. Together with the additional time off their sentences that inmates could earn by completing programs, state lockups would see an estimated reduction of about 8,000 prisoners, on average, from the initiative.

Even with the cuts, Cate said, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is unlikely to reach the $400 million in spending reductions for the coming fiscal year ordered by the governor when he signed the budget approved by lawmakers in February.   Cate said other elements of the department’s plan include cuts of up to 200 positions at the agency’s headquarters in Sacramento, about 10% of its workforce there; adjusting upward the dollar value of property crimes needed for them to be prosecuted as a felony, to account for inflation; and using satellite tracking technology on parolees who commit technical violations, such as failing a drug test or missing an appointment, as an alternative to sending them back to prison.

vericatrajkova California, Early Release, Economic Issues, Inmate Programs, Probation and Parole

Lauderdale County MI can now use a portion of the money collected from inmate telephone service for the local jail ministry program.

Gov. Haley Barbour signed a bill earlier this month that authorized use of the money. The bill took effect when Barbour signed it.
Lauderdale County’s Good News Jail and Prison Ministry provides volunteers and a full time chaplain to participate in non-denominational worship with inmates. It has been funded by local donations.   The bill allows the county to use up to $25,000 from the inmate phone service for the jail ministry.

vericatrajkova Faith-based Programs, Inmate Programs, Inmate Telephones, MS Lauderdale County, Mississippi

Criminals are using the lack of rehabilitation in South Australian jails to win less jail time.

In the past 12 months, evidence of the lack of rehabilitation has been considered by judges when:

• Releasing a multiple child sex offender from indefinite detention partly because a lack of resources had delayed rehabilitation.
• Overturning the indefinite detention of a rapist, partly because it was “unfair” he was denied rehabilitation reserved for those soon to be released.
• Fixing a non-parole period for a drug user, commenting he could access better rehabilitation in the community.
• Suspending the sentence of a man convicted of assault, commenting this would allow him to access community rehabilitation.
• Lowering a non-parole period for a sex offender, commenting prison could set back his recovery.

Chair of the Law Society’s Criminal Law Committee George Mancini said the trend was increasing because of a State Government policy of longer sentences. “It is an aspect of overcrowding, of longer terms of imprisonment and not spending sufficient resources on rehabilitation,” he said.  A spokesman for Prisons Minister Tom Koutsantonis defended the Government’s record on rehabilitation.  “Prior to 2005, there was no sex offender treatment in SA prisons at all,” the spokesman said.

A number of the recent decisions have been made on the advice of Dr Raeside, a consulting psychiatrist to the Department of Correctional Services, who has been praised by judges for his professionalism and is highly critical of rehabilitation in the state’s jails.

“I figure if we are going to lock more people up for longer (whether one agrees with that policy or not) then we ought to do something for them whilst they are there to reduce the chances of them re-offending and make the community safer when they get out,” he said.

vericatrajkova Australasia, Australia, Drug Treatment & Diversion, Early Release, INTERNATIONAL, Inmate Programs, Private Prisons, Sex Offenders, South Australia

The Great Falls Tribune has a long and fascinating article about how the Montana DOC is reaching out to Native American inmates.  These are merely excerpts.

Indians make up about 7 percent of the state’s population, but represent a much larger chunk of the prison population. Among men, 19.5 percent of inmates are Native American. At the women’s prison, Indians made up just more than 27 percent of the inmate population in 2008.  Felony crimes on Indian reservations are prosecuted by the federal government, so those offenders would have nothing to do with the Montana Department of Corrections.   Even so, many Native American inmates in Montana’s corrections system are steeped in traditional culture, said Myrna Kuka, American Indian liaison for the DOC …

A good example of that effort is the DOC’s policy regarding inmates attending funerals. Previously, the policy allowed inmates to attend funerals only for a few relatives — brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents.In Native American culture, however, family structure tends to be less clear. It’s more common for a neighbor to take on the role of a grandparent or a cousin to be as close as a brother, Kuka said. Yet policy prohibited inmates from attending those funerals … The policy is more flexible now, including a provision that allows inmates to designate at the beginning of their sentence whose funeral would be important for them to attend …

The state’s three largest prison facilities have sweat lodges where inmates can hold religious services. At the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge and some other facilities, inmates also are able to participate in pipe ceremonies, drum ceremonies, smudging and talking circles.

vericatrajkova American Indians, Inmate Programs, Montana

Some of the 865 male sex offenders in the New Hampshire state prison system are being held past their parole dates because there are just 90 spots in the treatment program most of them must take.

One man told the Concord Monitor that he wasn’t allowed to apply for the 18-month program until a year after he became eligible for parole. Keeping an inmate in prison one year past his parole date costs about $30,000, versus $800 for a year of parole.

Prison officials acknowledge the backlog but say some prisoners cause the delay themselves. Sex offenders can’t begin the program until they admit to their offense and those who misbehave while enrolled can get kicked out of the program.

vericatrajkova Inmate Programs, New Hampshire, Sex Offenders