Prisons given permanent contracts to compete with industry-USA

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=163-11062003

The House today by a 350-to-65 vote passed legislation reforming Federal Prison Industries (FPI). This government-owned corporation was created to ensure work and training for prison inmates by guaranteeing a market for prison-made goods. However, FPI has been surrounded by controversy since its inception because its guaranteed market of Federal agencies for its products combined with its reduced costs for labor and capital amounted to an unfair advantage that put private businesses and American workers out of work.

FPI enjoys a mandatory market for its goods, a facility to produce them, and large workforce that can be forced to manufacture them. FPI pays its workers less than minimum wage and forces them to work for its profit. It is hardly a surprise that FPI is able to drive small businesses out of any market it chooses.

Currently FPI, rather than the buying agency, determines if FPI's offered product and delivery schedule meet the needs of the buying agency. FPI, rather than the buying agency, determines the reasonableness of FPI's offered price.

Very free market of them...

Taxpayers support criminals to drive them out of business.

This is what America is coming to...is this our future?

eom

there were only 60-some against?

If the prisoners weren't in prison, ideally they would be employed. Why is having them employed during their i,prisonment a bad thing?
I understand concerns about unfair pay, etc., I am certainly not in favor of slave labor, but I think work, education/training in prison are, in general, as important as counseling and treatment of physical and mental health of prisoners.

This is factory type work, and there are less and less manufacturing jobs in the US every day. What are they being trained for, are they going to move to china and get jobs there?

The problem is that the prison industries are competing with companies that have to pay their workers. The prison industries are awarded big contracts where they supply the armed forces with clothing and other items. The military is forced to buy from them, instead of a private company. But the prison industries price is much higher than the private company, though their costs are much lower. So someone is making a ton of money off this, and it's not the American public.

Harper's magazine had a great article on this a few months ago.

nor did I say that they were doing the work as job training.

Prisoners need work, if for nothing more than not going crazy.

I think it would be great to give them training that is useful. This is not it.

It would be cool if the profits produced by their labor could be put into a fund for compensating victims of crime, or mental health care for prisoners, stuff like that. The practice of having prison gardens that feed the prisoners is a good example of a worthwhile program.

and there is lot of profit that never gets on the books. i know a prisoner who did keep the prison industries books..creative to say the least...

This is the way America will become competitive again, with a "flexible" workforce.

It's a small start, with only one in 142 Americans in place to participate, but Patriot II should help get those numbers up, and put more Americans to work!

They are having random drug inspections at high school where the send in the SWAT team and force the kids to lie face down on the floor while they are searched at gunpoint. While the latest raid didn't turn up any drugs, I'm sure they will find a teenager who swiped his mom's pain medication at the next one, and off to the new prison factories they go.

The situation is deteriorating quickly it seems.

Here in Cincy they've started this program where anyone here that is caught with a gun in their possession will be tried in federal court. Now, thanks to Ashcroft the judges will have no leniancy(sp) in sentencing. One poor man, who was no criminal, but had a weapon in his car for protection has been sent to prison for 12 years. There is a lawyer who is trying to stop it because the cops are using it to unfairly discriminate. Out of 77 people there were only 5 non-blacks charged and only 2 of the 5 had their cases remanded by the prosecuter to federal court. Ashcroft is the new supply chain manager for the "Prison Corporation" and all are welcome to apply.

They just arrest people on non-violent drug charges and put them to work for American Corporations for Depression level wages. That is Slavery.

Links to all of the state-owned prison industry operations in the U.S., state by state

Prison Industrial Complex

the prisons control the price, quality, and delivery of guaranteed contracts.
It's so wrong it makes your head spin.

.

He is our only hope in this.

I went and looked at everything made in prisons here in Oklahoma.I thought I was going to see a Sport Utility in that list ,lol.


Seriously,I didn't know they were making that much stuff in prisons here. In this state,I imagine the pay and working conditions are about the same as on the outside,we just get to go home at the end of the day!