Governor Unveils Plan to Let Business Hire Inmates

Gov. George Deukmejian unveiled a sweeping legislative package Tuesday that would permit private businesses to hire thousands of prison inmates for a variety of jobs, including sorting through city garbage for material that can be recycled.

Arguing that prisoners should pay part of the cost of keeping them locked up, Deukmejian called for adoption of a constitutional amendment to lift the state’s ban on the use of prison labor by businesses.

“I think if the public was surveyed on this they would be very, very supportive,” the Republican governor told reporters. “I think that they want to see inmates using their time in a productive manner, helping to pay the costs, helping to pay restitution.”

Although similar proposals have been rejected in the past because of strong opposition from organized labor, Democratic and Republican supporters of the proposal predicted that its chances for passage are better in today’s climate of overcrowded penitentiaries, soaring prison costs and budget cutbacks in health and welfare programs.

If the Democratic-controlled Legislature is unwilling to place the proposed constitutional amendment before the voters, Deukmejian said he would consider launching his own statewide initiative campaign to put the issue on the ballot in 1990.

Under the plan outlined by the governor, 7,000 prison inmates would be put to work in jobs such as making clothes, sorting garbage or assembling high-technology parts and equipment.

Inmates would receive the prevailing wage in the industry in which they would be employed--in most cases the minimum wage. They would continue to receive reductions in their sentences of one day for each day worked--as they do now for such tasks as operating the prison laundry or making license plates.

Out of their earnings, the state would keep 20% to defray the cost of incarceration (which now averages $19,000 a year), 15% for restitution to their victims and 40% for a forced savings program. Prisoners would get the remaining 25% to use as they wish.

The state would attempt to attract jobs that would not compete with California businesses, primarily by attempting to entice industries that do not operate in the state or have moved their factories to other countries.

“What we want to concentrate on is having the inmates do some jobs that are currently being performed overseas,” Deukmejian said. “You don’t want to get involved in programs that are going to be considered to be in direct competition with some of the labor force that we have now in the state.”

Overcrowded Landfills

The plan to hire inmates to sort garbage is an attempt to ease the pressure on overcrowded landfill sites and promote recycling. Prisoners would be used to operate the labor-intensive enterprise that private businesses have yet to enter on a large scale.

Under the proposal, inmates would separate cans, bottles, glass, plastic and other waste that can be recycled. Garbage that can be burned would be incinerated in a cogeneration plant to create energy. Prisoners would be closely supervised to make sure they did not remove valuables or contraband from the garbage.

Deukmejian Administration officials envision setting up garbage-sorting facilities and cogeneration plants at prisons within 50 miles of urban areas.

Businesses that set up work sites at prisons and hire inmates would receive tax breaks and other incentives, the governor said. For example, they would not have to pay the cost of health care or disability insurance, since those would already be covered by the state.

The governor’s job plan calls for prisoners to perform their work on prison grounds. But Deukmejian left open the possibility that some prisoners would be placed in jobs outside prison gates.

Organized labor has long opposed prison work programs on the grounds that they take jobs from law-abiding citizens. John F. Henning, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation, said he could not comment on the governor’s latest proposal because he had not seen the specifics, but he added, “Put simply, we are opposed to convict labor taking the jobs of free labor.”

In 1982, at the behest of organized labor and businesses that feared increased competition, the Legislature refused to place on the ballot a similar constitutional amendment that would have permitted businesses to employ prison inmates.

But Sen. Robert Presley (D-Riverside), a backer of the constitutional amendment, said much has changed since then. The number of prisoners has nearly tripled to 76,000, he noted, and the cost of keeping them incarcerated is approaching $2 billion annually. Facing a severe budget crunch, the governor is proposing major cutbacks in social service programs--programs that are favored by Democratic legislators and organized labor.

“I have a feeling there is going to be enough support to get this through the Legislature,” Presly said. “With the operating cost of $2 billion a year, we better find a way for the prisons to help recoup some of that so we we can spend it on health and social services.”

Creation of a prison work program has been a major goal for Deukmejian since he took office in 1983.

In 1984, his Administration proposed an ill-fated work program that included a proposal that inmates raise dogs for scientific experiments.

But three years ago, the Legislature agreed to let private industries begin hiring wards of the California Youth Authority--who are not technically covered by the constitutional ban against inmate labor. Now, about 150 wards of the Youth Authority are employed at such jobs as handling reservations for Trans World Airlines and packaging plastic utensils for the El Pollo Loco fast-food chain.