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False claim of unfair competition could limit in-prison work programs

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has very few reentry programs, but one of its more successful ones is under fire at Thursday's House Corrections Committee meeting in the form of HB 1914 by committee chairman Jim McReynolds (with a companion bill in the Senate filed by Sen. Robert Nichols), aimed at further eliminating most prison industries programs on the false assumption that they take jobs away from people in the free world.The Prison Industry Enhancement Certification or PIE program was created 15 years ago - designed to give inmates work skills and provide inexpensive labor to industry participants. PIE has 200-300 working inmates at any given time - only five companies participate currently.Among other things, HB 1914 would require TDCJ to reject prison industries contracts "if the board determines that the contract has negatively affected or would negatively affect any employer in this state...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on March 24, 2009 (boomark / email).