Saturday, July 24, 2010
Federal prison officials have eliminated thousands of jobs for inmates over the past two years to help close a $65 million budget gap. Described as one of the largest cutbacks in the 75-year history of the Federal Prison Industries
(FPI), the layoffs have affected 7,000 prisoners, with another 800 expected to lose employment in the coming months. FPI’s total employment went from 23,152 in 2008 down to 16,165 in 2010. There are currently 211,146 federal prisoners. The Federal Prison Initiative is also known as Unicor.
The FPI was created by Congress in 1934 to provide job training for prisoners to prepare them for legal survival in the outside world. However, prisoners make a maximum of only $1.15 an hour for their work.
-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky
The Recession Enters Prison: Inmate Laborers Face Increasing Layoffs (by Akito Yoshikane, In These Times)
Prison Workforce Feels Pinch (by Kevin Johnson, USA Today)
Comments