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California Slave Labor Loses Money
In California there is a prisoner work program that is supposed to save taxpayers up to $50 million a year. However, a new study has shown that taxpayers are shelling out $180,000 annually. The program generates about $340,000 a year for the state, but costs the state $520,000 to administer for a net loss of $180,000 annually, according to the study by the states legislative analysts. A Joint Venture program, approved by voters in November 1990, was intended to allow prisoners to earn money for themselves and help defray the costs of their incarceration.
The study said the fundamental problem with the program is the awkward co-existence of private businesses and the prison environment. Security and other restrictions are frustrating to private business owners, and prisons aren't designed to include business work areas, the report said.
Noreen Blonien, assistant director of the Department of Corrections who runs the Joint Venture program stated, "we have two very different goals. In corrections, our bottom line is running good, safe prisons, controlling anything out of the ordinary. Business' bottom line is making a profit in the fastest, most efficient way possible. Sometimes the two don't go together."
Sacramento Bee
The study said the fundamental problem with the program is the awkward co-existence of private businesses and the prison environment. Security and other restrictions are frustrating to private business owners, and prisons aren't designed to include business work areas, the report said.
Noreen Blonien, assistant director of the Department of Corrections who runs the Joint Venture program stated, "we have two very different goals. In corrections, our bottom line is running good, safe prisons, controlling anything out of the ordinary. Business' bottom line is making a profit in the fastest, most efficient way possible. Sometimes the two don't go together."
Sacramento Bee
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