Prison Agency Taken to Task on Inmate Pay

A judge Thursday threatened to hold state Department of Corrections officials in contempt unless they begin complying with his orders on running a prison labor program, including an order to pay the prisoners more money.

San Diego County Superior Court Judge William C. Pate told opposing lawyers that he wants prison officials to comply with his previous orders or explain “why they can’t get off the dime and get it done.”

Pate noted that he had given officials a year to require private employers to boost wages for prisoners who are part of the program and also to make employers post performance bonds to ensure they pay prisoners.

“The state seems to take the position that because we’re so big nobody can find us,” said Pate, who set June 30 as a deadline for the state to prove it has upgraded the labor program.

Colin Munro, a private attorney representing the Department of Corrections, declined to comment on Pate’s scolding.

But Robert Berke, a civil rights attorney who has sued the state over its running of the program, called Pate’s ruling a victory.

A 1990 state ballot measure authorized private employers to hire prisoners, with their wages split evenly five ways: the prisoners, their families, a restitution fund, victims and the state.

By allowing private employers to pay prisoners less than they would pay regular employees, everyone gets shortchanged, Berke said.

“The inmates and the taxpayers are being cheated,” he said.

Once considered a national model, the program has declined in recent years. Only several hundred of the state’s 163,000 prisoners are involved, a smaller percentage than similar programs in other states.

Corrections officials have insisted that the program’s woes are an outgrowth of a problematic economy, competition from businesses in lower-wage states, and a lack of space to run manufacturing programs on prison grounds.

In a brief hearing, Munro argued that the state has little authority over certain aspects of the so-called joint-venture programs. Berke argued that without the state taking leadership, private companies are adrift.

“The way it is now, employers have no guidance,” he told Pate.

Although his tone of voice was low-key, Pate’s response was direct. “My next move is to order people down to court for a hearing,” he said, a move that could lead to fines or incarceration.

Last month, Pate ruled that the state had failed to develop a list of comparable wage rates for prisoners. One example he gave involved Imperial County, where the entry-level wage for production workers is $9.53 an hour, but the state has suggested paying prisoners $6.75.