Fiscal Notes, February 2002

Prison program pays inmates
who pay back victims, prisons

Doing Useful Time

Ever feel like a prisoner at work? Well, for some Texas workers, it's the truth. More than 7,500 Texas prisoners participate in work programs that teach them marketable skills and contribute to the Texas economy while they are incarcerated.
In an effort to help Texas inmates find a better life after prison, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) provides offenders two ways to gain training and work experience. TDCJ's Texas Correctional Industries (TCI) division and Prison Industries Enhancement (PIE) help prisoners gain marketable skills and valuable work experience, which prison officials hope will reduce recidivism.
Shifting goals
The TCI division was established in 1963 with Senate Bill 338, the Prison Made Goods Act, to regulate the work that prisoners performed within prisons. The act mainly established who could purchase TCI products: state agencies or political subdivisions within the U.S. and foreign countries, but not private individuals or industries, and stated that prison labor was not permitted to displace private-sector workers.
TCI's goal shifted, though, in 1995 to include a more rehabilitative role.
"It's evolved through the years," says John Benestante, the director of TDCJ's Manufacturing and Logistics Division, which oversees TCI and PIE.
Benestante says that in 1995, legislators changed the goal of TCI from simply making goods and generating money to providing job skills training and helping offenders reintegrate into society after their release.
Preparing for the future
TCI now consults with a committee of private representatives to determine what types of job skills will be needed in the next five years and to develop in-prison programs to give prisoners those skills. The division also works with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and the Texas Workforce Commission to help prisoners gain employment just before or after release, helping reduce recidivism.
TDCJ is gathering research to determine the impact of TCI and PIE programs on rehabilitation and recidivism, and the Criminal Justice Policy Council released figures in September 2000 that showed recidivism declined throughout the 1990s. The percentage of offenders released in 1992 who were incarcerated again within three years was 49.1 percent, compared to 30.7 percent of inmates released in 1997.
Variety of jobs
To meet its goal of providing training and work experience for offenders, TCI runs 43 facilities in 35 TDCJ units where more than 7,500 prisoners produce more than 500 different products. Offenders manufacture products in one of five divisions: Graphics, Garments, Furniture, Metals and Marketing. Products range from soap, signs, uniforms and brooms to kitchen equipment.
The division also developed two programs in 1995 to help offenders receive marketable skills for the lucrative technology sector of the economy. The special programs, called Designated Programs, are a Geographic Information System (GIS) conversion unit and a computer recovery program.
The Ferguson Geographic Information System Training Center teaches computer-aided drafting to offenders then shows them how to apply that training to converting printed maps to digital files and GIS systems. This on-the-job training helps offenders earn certification as GIS technicians.
Similarly, the Wynne Computer Recovery Program helps train and certify offenders to improve their marketability upon release. Prisoners learn to refurbish obsolete computers, which are then given or sold to school districts, state agencies and state political subdivisions. Prisoners have the opportunity to earn A+ Certification, a credential that certifies the competency of personal computer service specialists.
TCI is developing a program for training offenders to repair cars and trucks, including larger vehicles such as buses, leading to Automotive Service Excellence certification, and Benestante expects the division to consider a welding program after the vehicle repair and refurbishing program is under way.
Getting a piece of the PIE
The PIE program takes prison work one step further. The program was created in 1979 by Congress to encourage inmate work opportunities that would approximate private sector working conditions.
Texas was certified to participate in the program in 1993. Under PIE in Texas, a private company partners with state and local government to provide a work opportunity on prison grounds, and prisoners are employees of the company. The inmates are paid the local prevailing wage for their work, and the products the prisoners produce can be sold in the private sector just like products produced by any other employee of the company.
Prisoners receive 20 percent of their gross wages and the rest of their check is deducted as follows: taxes; 15 percent to the attorney general's Crime Victims' Compensation Fund; 20 percent to dependent care if the inmate has family to support; and the remainder to room and board.
If the inmate has court-ordered restitution, 10 percent of the contribution to the crime victims' fund is diverted to pay it. If the inmate has no family to support, the 20 percent for dependent care goes to room and board. Room and board funds are partially used to fund expansion of the PIE program.
A growing program
About 300 Texas inmates work in the state's four PIE operations. The Lockhart Correctional Facility is home to three of the programs, which employ 237 offenders. Chatleff Inc. produces brass valves and fittings; Labor to Industry manufactures electronic circuit boards; and Medline produces uniforms. Atrium, an aluminum window frame manufacturer, began operations in December 2001 at the Telford Unit in New Boston, employing 60 inmates.
The PIE program allows up to 2,000 inmates in the state to be employed in Texas PIE jobs, and Ned Muñoz, a policy analyst with the Comptroller's office, expects the number of private employers, and thus the number of offender participants, in the program to increase thanks to legislation passed by the 2001 Texas Legislature. The new legislation makes it more appealing for businesses to participate. The legislation arose from a recommendation in the Comptroller's December 2000 report e-Texas: smaller, smarter, faster government report.
"We worked together with TDCJ and State Rep. Ray Allen, who is on the House Corrections Committee, to find the best ways to expand PIE," Muñoz says, and the Comptroller's office predicts that as many as 1,800 inmates could be working in the program by 2006.
Everyone benefits
Benestante says employers benefit from a willing work force that doesn't call in sick or need health insurance, and prison administration benefits from having fewer inmates idle.
"Since PIE's inception, participating inmates have had a near perfect disciplinary record," Muñoz says. "Inmates benefit from learning job skills, getting experience with a real-world employer and earning wages."
Benestante agrees that the program benefits prisoners in new ways.
"When they go out the door, they'll have a little money to help them get started," says Benestante. "The main advantages are that it cuts down on idleness, improves [inmates'] self-esteem, and helps their families--a lot."

Suzanne Staton