Jails - Jail Industries

The National Institute of Justice defines a jail industry as one that uses inmate labor to create a product or provide a service that has value to a public or private client and for which the inmates receive compensation, whether it be pay, privileges, or other benefits. This definition describes a variety of activities. If a convict cuts the grass in front of the jail and thereby earns permission to watch television for an extra hour, the elements of labor, service provision, value, and compensation are all present. At the other end of the spectrum are those jail inmates who work for private-sector industry and earn real dollars.

Jail officials hoped these programs would develop inmate work habits and skills, generate revenues or reduce costs for the county, reduce inmate idleness, and meet needs in the community. The 1984 Justice Assistance Act (PL 98-473) removed some of the longstanding restrictions on interstate commerce of prisoner-made goods, thereby opening new opportunities for prison labor to work for the private sector. Both state prisons and county jails have entered into private-sector work programs.

In most programs, inmates receive no or low wages. In some instances, a portion of the money they earn is used to pay child support, victim restitution, or other obligations. Some receive extra food, longer recreation time, or more frequent visits from family. Their work often serves the public sector, and they are usually credited with "good time." Thus, the offenders pay for their crimes with public service labor, and their early release makes scarce bed space available for other offenders.

In 1992 the Bureau of Justice Assistance began funding the BJA Jail Work and Industry Center, which serves as a national clearinghouse for information and assistance about jail industries. According to Developing a Jail Industry: A Workbook (Bureau of Justice Assistance, Washington, DC, August 2002), many counties have experienced positive results from developing their own jail industries. These results include:

• Becoming self-sufficient (and sometimes profitable)
• Providing inmates with meaningful work experience and income
• Reducing inmate idleness
• Reducing inmate tension and misconduct
• Improving skills for postrelease employment
• Providing positive publicity
• Relieving crowding
• Providing an inmate management tool that promotes better inmate behavior
• Increasing inmate incentives
• Contributing to the community

Jail Industries at Work

The Bureau of Justice Assistance recommends jail industries to even smaller facilities, explaining that many opportunities do not require much space to operate. Among those industries suitable for jails with little spare space are data entry, mailing, and clothing repair. (See Table 3.13.)

In an effort to help inmates learn new skills and establish solid work habits, the Santa Clara County Department of Correction in California (http://www.scvmed.org/site/0,4760,sid%253D11277,00.html) offers a jail industry program. As of spring 2005, inmates manufactured a range of products, including computer and office desks, bookshelves, benches, and toys. The items were sold to government and nonprofit organizations throughout the United States.

In 2005 inmates in Clark County, Washington, provided several services, including a computer recycling program (http://www.clark.wa.gov/sheriff/custody/jailindust.html). The service was geared toward training inmates in electronics, reducing the number of discarded computers that become hazardous waste in landfills, and providing rebuilt computers to nonprofit organizations, which distribute the rebuilt machines to low-income families. Programs in other regions TABLE 3.13
Ten jail industries that can operate in a closet
SOURCE: Rod Miller, George Sexton, and Vic Jacobsen, "Exhibit 4–4. Ten Jail Industries That Can Operate in a Closet," in Developing a Jail Industry: A Workbook, Bureau of Justice Assistance, August 2002, http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/bja/182506.pdf (accessed April 2, 2005)

• Data entry	• Engraving
• Mailing	• Shoe repair
• Disassembly of small items	• Refinishing small furniture items
• Assembly of small items	• Clothing repair
• Sewing	• Answering telephone

included habitat restoration and enhancement as well as litter cleanup.

One factor that has limited the development of jail industries is that individuals sentenced to jail serve relatively short periods of time compared with those in prison (who serve for one year or longer). Continuity of employment in jail industries is therefore difficult to maintain. Work undertaken must call for skills widely distributed in the population; projects must be of short duration; and organization of the workplace and of the workflow must accommodate relatively rapid turnover. These considerations limit the usefulness of jail industries, as compared with prison industries, as training places for offenders intending to acquire new skills to be used as part of their rehabilitation after release.