The State - News from Dec. 11, 1988

Gov. George Deukmejian, in his weekly radio address, proposed an expansion of the state prison work program, using some of the 75,000 adult inmates for private industry jobs. Currently about 7,000 prisoners are enrolled in work programs, which pay them a stipend toward the cost of housing and feeding them. Labor unions traditionally have opposed using prison labor in private industry, contending it would take jobs from honest citizens. But Deukmejian said many of the jobs that prisoners could perform are being done overseas. “That’s not taking any jobs away from California workers,” he said. Full details of his plan will be disclosed next month, the governor said.