Prisoner Work Plan Defended : Labor, Business in Way of ‘Fairness,’ Governor Says

Gov. George Deukmejian said Tuesday that the opposition of organized labor and “some businesses” is thwarting his effort to use more California prison inmates for work that will help underwrite the cost of their imprisonment.

“Simple fairness suggests that these criminals should start footing the growing bill for their support while they are in prison,” Deukmejian said. “I believe that every prisoner physically and mentally capable of working should be put to work and earn their keep just like the rest of us.”

The governor said, however, that labor and industry fear a loss of jobs and business if the prison work program is enlarged, even though the state’s total inmate population represents less than 1% of the total California work force.

But he said his Administration is currently exploring ways to expand the program despite the opposition and added, “Why should law-abiding citizens and the victims of crime foot the whole bill for the criminal? It should be the other way around.”

His comments were contained in a speech prepared for delivery to a Tuesday night dinner of the Lincoln Club of the Sacramento Valley. It echoed a theme that he first raised during his 1982 gubernatorial campaign.

“Currently, about 75% of state prison inmates are engaged in some kind of work activity,” Deukmejian said, “but most perform only internal housekeeping chores. Very few participate in the prison industries program, which has a far greater potential to provide relief for the taxpayers.”

Describing expansion of the program as one of his “unmet challenges,” the governor also said that “perhaps fewer convicted criminals would return to a life of crime if during their imprisonment they learned the skills and work habits needed to become employable members of society.”

State officials said that at last count, only about 8% of the 40,000-plus inmates in California prisons are employed in the program, which provides goods and services to other government agencies.

But a report by a private accounting firm last week said that far from providing revenue to help finance the prison system, the program is losing more than $1 million a year because of poor management and because many prison products are being sold below cost.

Deukmejian moved last November to improve supervision of the program by appointing his legislative affairs secretary, Rodney J. Blonien, to a newly created job as undersecretary of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency with the specific duty of overseeing inmate work efforts.