California has the largest prison system in the United States and also has the most severe budget crisis. The two are closely related. California”s total budget is $83 billion. At the same time California spends $10 billion, one-eighth of its entire budget, to house, feed, treat and guard its 170,000 inmates.
Prison inmates should not be a financial burden on society. Most inmates are physically and mentally capable of working. If inmates worked eight hours a day, five days a week, they would learn useful skills and would be employable when they are released. Further, if all inmates worked, they would be tired, like most workers are on the outside after long days of hard work, and would be less likely to cause disturbances and other problems.
California already has a work program called California Prison Industries (CALPIA). CALPIA provides work assignments for approximately 5,900 inmates and operates over 60 service, manufacturing, and agricultural industries at 22 of the 32 prisons throughout California. The problem is that CALPIA employs only 3 percent of the total number of inmates.
In contrast, the Federal prison system utilizes 17 percent of federal prisoners in Federal Prison Industries, known as UNICOR. The U.S. Federal prison system, and many state prison systems, require all able-bodied inmates to work. In fiscal year 2008, UNICOR employed 21,836 inmates: 17 percent of eligible inmates held in federal prisons. Federal Prison Industries generated $854.3 million in sales, or $39,110 per working prisoner.
If California used prison workers as well as the federal system, California would have reaped a benefit of $900 million in additional revenue. But, California can do even better than 17 percent participation. Some prisoners are too old or too incapacitated to work. Eighty percent participation is a realistic goal. Oregon”s prison work program has 88 percent participation. Eighty-percent participation will take at least five years, because new facilities will have to be built. At 80 percent participation, CALPIA would have income of $4 billion, revenue that the state dearly needs.
California has the resources and climate that would allow inmates to grow all of their crops, make all of their clothing and sell other products in order to make the prison system self-sufficient. CALPIA already raises cattle and chickens, grows crops and makes clothing. Only the scale of production has to be expanded.
The obstacle to having CALPIA sell its products and services to the general public is that the California Penal Code prohibits it. Under current law, CALPIA can only sell products to government entities, including federal, state, and local governmental agencies, but not to the general public.
Part II will run in the next few days.
Joel Joseph is chairman of the Made in the USA Foundation. The foundation promotes American-made products.
