At Other End of Toll-Free Tourism Hot Lines: Jail Bars

Thinking of traveling to Iowa in the next few weeks? Maybe a visit to the National Balloon Museum or Herbert Hoover’s birthplace? When you call the state tourist hot line at 1-800-345-IOWA for a map and a guidebook, listen carefully. That friendly male voice is coming to you from maximum security at the Iowa State Penitentiary.

The Hawkeye state, like a handful of other states including Arizona, Nebraska and New Jersey, is using prisoners on tourist hot lines to help promote tourism while cutting state expenses.

In New Jersey, as many as 40 women inmates from the maximum security Edna Mahan Correctional Facility answer thousands of calls a day on the toll-free travel and tourism line.

“I don’t know where we would be without them,” said Greg Gilstrap, tourism director for Arizona, referring to the six women inmates in blue jeans and blue T-shirts who arrive each morning at the state tourism office in Phoenix. They answer local tourist calls and do office work.

“We would probably utilize more inmates if we had more office space,” said Gilstrap. At the end of the workday the inmates are returned to the prison.

Using prison inmates for cheap labor is nothing new for states. “At the turn of the century, much of the barbed-wire industry came from Minnesota prisons, and Texas inmates were contracted out to cotton field owners,” said Jerome Miller, head of the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives in Alexandria, Va.

Oregon used prison inmates to answer tourism information lines over the last three years and then disconnected in January of this year, indicating some difficulties in the levels of enthusiasm from inmates.

“The inmates weren’t as responsive as we needed them to be,” said Jim Cunningham of the Oregon Tourism Division, “so we contracted with a private company that now provides us with broader services, and is 100% better.”

According to the U.S. Justice Department, about 20 states now employ inmates to do work such as make license plates, furniture, and clothes. “It’s too soon to tell how far telemarketing will spread in prisons,” said Miller.

In Iowa, a cellblock at the men’s prison at Ft. Madison was remodeled and the cells were turned into telemarketing stations. “It’s a good assignment for the inmates,” said Nancy Landess, marketing manager for Iowa’s Tourism Division in Des Moines. “They have always had jobs like making furniture, and now they can move into the service industry and work with computers.”

Inmates in Iowa can earn between 32 and 72 cents an hour, which is better pay than most prison jobs offer. The inmates receive training in phone courtesy, tourism attractions throughout the state and how to operate computers. At the height of the tourist season, inmates handle up to 1,200 calls a day and send out packets of tourist information.

One inmate on the hot line, after answering a question about skiing in Iowa, said, “This works out pretty well for me. It’s much better than lifting weights and being miserable all day long.”

In Arizona, Gilstrap said it is “refreshing” to see how pleased the inmates are with their opportunity. “Given the fact that their alternative is cleaning up the prison grounds for about three cents an hour, they tend to be very appreciative,” he said.

“My understanding is that there has been substantial savings for the state,” said Ron Welder, correctional services manager for the Iowa State Penitentiary. “And the state department of transportation is thinking of using inmates to answer an 800 line for the most asked questions, (such as,) when is the license bureau open?”

“We’ve had some problems,” said Welder, “like inmates sending out additional information or trying to contact the person that called, and some inmates can’t get used to answering phones. But the problems have been minor.”

In Iowa the phone calls are monitored by supervisors who move around the phone stations listening to the conversations.

“Eventually what led to the decline of using prisoners for outside labor,” said Miller, “were abuses and strong opposition from unions.”