Working prisoners in ‘a choice job’

Prison labor may be controversial in parts of the world, but prisoners on work crews at Southwestern College consider it a good job.

SWC has used California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) inmates to work on its campus grounds since March 1990.

Called "Inmate Community Service Work Crews," the inmates are provided by Richard J. Donovan (RJD) State Correctional Facility, San Diego, a major state prison located in the Otay Mesa area.
RJD is home to sentenced prisoners for all types of criminal conduct ranging from minor to the most serious.

The prison has a total of 1,700 employees and 4,452 inmates.
Use of inmates for community service work outside the prison is authorized by sections 2700-2717 of the California Penal Code. Warden George A. Neotti, a 25-year veteran of CDCR, said the inmate work program "... is a great marriage between state correctional institutions and the larger community."

"Currently within the county, we provide inmate work crews for SWC, the City of Imperial Beach, the Miramar landfill and the California Department of Transportation," Neotti added with obvious pride.

Neotti used the term "transparency of operations," clearly indicating the concept was a key element of the prison's mission. Further evidence of that was the warden not only agreeing to an interview of well over an hour, but readily making available the RJD public affairs officer, the community partnership manager, the correctional sergeant, and other prison officials -- as well as providing public records and documents and a tour of one of the prison's minimum security housing dormitories.

All rules and requirements of the inmate community service work program are contained within an elaborate contract between SWC and RJD. For RJD's part, officials provide carefully-screened inmates who have not been convicted of any violent crimes such as those involving sex, arson, assault, homicide or other serious offenses. Inmates selected must have demonstrated proper institutional conduct in terms of prison rules and behavior. Selections are made by the Institutional Classification Committee, the chairman of which is Warden Neotti.

Other contractual obligations of RJDF provide transportation to and from the work site, sack lunches, water, supplies, tools, and supervision. Part of the security is to require prisoners to wear bright yellow or green coveralls with "CDCR Prisoner" printed on the back.

Selection to work outside RJD is considered a "choice" job according to RJD's corrections sergeant, the senior "prison guard" for the facility, whose name is excluded for security purposes.

"Inmates are able to develop a work ethic, learn work skills, and earn some money for their personal needs," he said.

Earning "some money" may, however, be an overstatement since pay for the inmates ranges from only 13-45 cents per hour. And, according to RJD's Community Partnership Manager, Patti Colston, that pay is further reduced because inmates must contribute 10 percent to the state "Crime Victims Fund."

The Crime Victims Fund is a nonprofit organization created by state law for collecting money to mitigate the suffering of crime victims, to increase the range and availability of services to victims, and to enhance public sensitivity to the plight of victims. Individuals, businesses and corporations, and private corporate and community foundations donate money for the fund.

No government funds are involved. A portion of the fund's revenue is derived from the R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility's Inmate Community Crew program.
For its part under the contract, SWC provides inmates' pay and the cost of the salary of the prison's custodial supervisor who transports and oversees inmates at the work site. The custodial supervisor (name excluded for security purposes) for the past two years has a salary of about $50 per hour.

SWC bears no additional direct costs, although the contract does require appointment of a "liaison" to serve as college coordinator.

RJD officials emphasize that they consider security and public safety paramount regarding inmate work crews, and have in place "elaborate procedures" to ensure proper conduct and safety . Work crews do not exceed eight members and, for each crew, a highly trained custodial supervisor is present. Except for chemical disabling agents, a baton and a portable radio, the supervisor is not armed.

Neotti stated there has been "no incident of violence or other misconduct" by members of his inmate work crews, except for "one very young inmate who walked away from the work site and went to his mother's home where he was apprehended without resistance within hours."

When asked what, if any, security is provided by SWC, Warden Neotti said he was "unsure." Numerous requests for information and interviews with college police, the SWC liaison and administrators were made without material response.