Nevada Prison Industry Administrative Rules Now in Place

Following a full year of investigating complaints and revising Nevada’s prison industry program statute(s), a new Administrative Rule (AR 854) regulating the operation of that state’s prison industry operation has been submitted to the Board of Prison Commissioners (BPC) by NDOC Director, Greg Cox.  In December this regulation was adopted and became effective.

Sen. Richard Bryan

In October the NDOC submitted a long list of new or amended AR’s to the BPC for approval and implementation.  At that time Cox withheld the proposed AR 854 addressing the operation of the agency’s prison industry operations.  Cox held back on this single AR by advising the Board he wanted to work with former Senator Richard Bryan on the language of that particular regulation.

On December 17^th Director Cox submitted the final negotiated regulation to BPC members, Governor Sandoval, AG Masto and Secretary of State, Ross Miller for consideration.  Following approval by the Board, the new prison industry regulations are now in effect.

NDOC Dir. Cox

Critics and opponents of the prison industry program have now adopted a position of “monitoring” the state’s prison industry program. They’re doing so in an effort of ensuring there are no further infringements upon Nevada’s workers and businesses that compete against prison industries.  Last year it was discovered that the NDOC regulations were not being fully enforced and state statutes controlling prison industry operations were insufficient to protect both Nevada's private sector workers and competing non-prison partnered businesses.

All of this came about after lawmakers, the media and general public learned that the prison industry program was more or less operating without any real oversight.  This allowed the NDOC to “partner” with a local Las Vegas business - Alpine Steel, LLC -  in a manner that provided that business with an unfair advantage over competitors and reduced the number of available private sector jobs.  Not only did this single business enjoy prison labor far below standard wage rates, but it also received low cost taxpayer subsidized utility costs and lease terms for state owned property that was far below the state averages. Additionally the NDOC failed to enforce most of the terms of the contract it had with Alpine, allowing the company to default on paying the salaries of NDOC staffers, prison workers and monthly lease payments or utility costs and making no effort to cure the defaults.

When this partnership was finally terminated by Governor Sandoval and the smoke cleared, the state was left with an owed debt of nearly half a million dollars.  Alpine's owner entered into a negotiated agreement to repay the state but almost immediately defaulted, leaving taxpayers on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid leases, staff salaries, utility costs and owed taxes.  This failed partnership resulted in the revamping of the state’s statutes controlling Nevada's existing prison industries and all proposed new industries.

During the lengthy legislative activities related to the failed Alpine partnership, other issues were discovered that prison labor activists are continuing to pursue at both state and federal levels.  These include the hourly wages paid to inmate workers in the program, deductions taken from prisoner paychecks and working conditions.

Nevada is a participant in a federally run program (Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Program or PIECP) that encourages prison industry/private business partnerships such as the one involving Alpine.   However in order to establish and operate under such partnerships both the state and the private business must agree to abide by stringent mandatory conditions required by the federal government.  Two of the imposed mandatory requirements are that inmates be paid prevailing wages and that the state can only take approved deductions from those wages.  In the case of Alpine, the contract with the state required that inmate workers receive "prevailing wages" (section 8.6) or the same wage paid to private sector workers performing the same duties on the outside.  Instead, the NDOC and Alpine set the inmate wage rate at or below the state minimum wage scale, exploiting the labor of inmate workers and further enriching Alpine.

Subsequently it now appears Nevada is underpaying inmates working in the federal program and taking an unapproved deduction of 5% to fund new prison industry operations.  In effect Nevada’s inmate workforce are being made to fund operating expenses of the prison industry out of their already meager wages.

Prison labor advocates are attempting to work with the NDOC, Nevada authorities and the responsible federal agency to cure any purported violations regarding the PIECP program to ensure Nevada is in full compliance with current state and federal provisions regarding the use of inmate labor.

Currently the Deputy Director of the NDOC’s Prison Industry, Brian Connett has indicated there are no proposed new industries being considered by the agency. However prior to the furor caused by the Alpine situation, Connett was advocating for a new industry in Nevada operated by a California company. The operation would have used inmate labor at minimum wages to sort through collected trash and remove recyclables. The collection of trash and refuse across the state would have been accomplished by the same California company.  This project was moving forward over objections voiced by the labor representative of the Senate's Interim Finance Committee on Industrial Programs, Mr. Mike Magnani.  This recycling "industry" was tabled once the Legislature began looking into the prison industry operations.

Businesses and a second labor representative, Rob Conway now sitting upon the legislative Interim Finance Committee will continue to monitor activities of the prison industry to eliminate the possibility of another situation arising that could jeopardize business owners or private workers.  Additionally the amended statute requires the Board of Prison Commissioners to review and approve any new industries or expansion of existing ones.  Hopefully vigilance by the labor representatives will keep the prison industries and expanded partnerships in check and allow more of Nevada's unemployed to find employment due to the reduction in new prison labor programs that eliminated positions in the past.

Only time will tell if the new regulations prevent another Alpine-styled incident from reoccurring.

MON MAR 25, 2013 AT 05:00 PM EDT

Casinos & Prison Labor – Strange Bedfellows

byBob SloanFollow

 
 
 
 
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                                                        By Bob Sloan

On Tuesday March 19th, the Nevada Board of Prison Commissioners (BPC) met in Carson City to discuss an assortment of prison related issues.  Members of the BPC are: Governor Brian Sandoval, Attorney General, Catherine Cortez-Masto and Secretary of State, Ross Miller.

Issues of: (a) realignment of state Parole and Probation responsibilities with the Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC; (b) compliance with the federal Rape Elimination Act; (c) certifying the Nevada State Prison as a Historical Site was on the agenda.  However, the topic which generated the most heated public discussion was listed on the agenda was: (d) a review of the prison industries program run by the NDOC.

As I’ve reported over the past two or three months, there has been an increasing amount of criticism of NDOC Director Greg Cox and Deputy Director Brian Connett over the operation of the state’s prison industry program.  This program operates under the name “Silver State Industries” and employs hundreds of inmates in various industrial programs.  Many of those prison workers are actually “employed “by private corporations and companies.

The need for discussion of prison industries during this meeting of the BPC came about due to a total lack of transparency surrounding the program.  The NDOC is reluctant to pull the veil of secrecy from prison industry operations that has hidden it from public and legislative view for years.  This was demonstrated in the meeting on the 19th by Secretary of State Miller when he was forced once again to request a list of industries being run by SSI.  AG Masto made the same request at the previous meeting in December and was assured by Deputy Director Connett that one would be provided at the following meeting.  At this time, no such list has been provided to the BPC by Cox or Connett.

Additionally, for more than two years SSI successfully hid from the BPC and Legislature the fact that Alpine Steel was not paying inmate and staff wages, lease payments, utilities or workers compensation payments owed to the state.  The NDOC also hid their lack of compliance with state statutes requiring notification to private businesses and labor before initiating new industries and took that one step further, by not even apprising the BPC in 2006 of the Alpine contract and creation of the steel fabrication industry.

SSI is operating at least half a dozen industries under the federal PIE Program – yet the Interim Finance Committee on Prison Industrial Programs was never made aware of the mandatory requirements of that program – or that those requirements also called for consulting private businesses and union officials.  The Prison Industries have not paid  inmate workers in the program comparable wages as mandated and have kept that secret from both the BPC and the Committee.

On March 8th the Agenda for the NDOC Budget hearing before the Ways and Means Committee listed several of the prison industries the NDOC claim were operating – but at least one of those was closed back in 2011.  So those excluded by this blanket of secrecy surrounding SSI operations includes the Nevada Assembly.  Unbelievably the one industry that has been closed for nearly two years is still being presented to the BPC as viable and operating and was mentioned as a positive in last week’s Prison Commissioner meeting.

The need for a review by the BPC in the first place was necessitated by this ongoing secrecy and lack of transparency exhibited by the NDOC, the Director and Deputy Director of Prison Industries.  It was this that caused several Nevada companies to complain the prison industry operation was being used to drive down wages in the private sector, reduce the number of available jobs for unemployed workers and argue prison based companies are competing unfairly against others in the marketplace, causing closure of smaller businesses.

At first it was a handful of steel fabrication companies that complained prison-based companies are competing unfairly against others in the marketplace by using – illegally underpaid - inmate labor to underbid on contracts.  But by the day of the meeting, another business owner named BIllow in an entirely different industry was identified as having notified the Governor and the NDOC for more than two years that his embroidery business had been compromised due to direct competition from prison industries.  This complaint had no impact upon that competition that continues to harm that man’s business in the private sector.

Responding on behalf of those complaining, former U.S. Senator Richard Bryan (D NV) proposed to the BPC that Nevada adopt the federal Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program’s (PIE Program) mandatory requirements as Nevada's prison industry regulations.  The PIE regulations require prison industries to contact and consult with labor groups, unions and private businesses to determine if there will be a negative impact upon sales, displacement of workers or jobs lost prior to commencing any new product line or industry.  They also require inmate wages set at the same rate as those performing identical jobs on the outside.

The state takes back most of the inmate’s earnings to offset the costs of incarceration, healthcare, feeding and clothing of inmates and for victim restitution and to repay fines or fees owed by the prisoner.  Senator Bryan’s proposed solution is simple and easily adopted since Nevada currently holds a PIECP Certificate issued by the U.S. Department of Justice and has six industries participating in the PIE Program.  These SSI industries already have to abide by the mandatory requirements in more than 50% of their operations. Making it applicable to remaining industry operations, would be easily accomplished and resolve the current issues.  This proposal had the support of many of those who spoke to the BPC last Tuesday on this and other issues.

Prison industry operations nationwide have been increasingly scrutinized and widely reported.  Strangely, however, most labor groups and unions have remained silent about the impact – if any – upon their members or workers from competition with prison industries.  The meeting Tuesday broke that ongoing silence, with both the Nevada Executive Secretary Treasurer of the AFLCIO, Danny Thompson and Robbie Conway, Business Agent of Ironworkers Local 433 sitting down with the BPC and objecting to the ongoing competition from prison labor.  Others representing Nevada Law Enforcement, Parole and Probation workers and NDOC employees, also stated their support for the proposed adoption of PIE regulations.

To be fair, the one member of the Committee representing labor is Mr. Magnani of the Teamsters who is totally outnumbered by NDOC, legislative and business members.  His single voice and vote is constantly outweighed by the two members representing the NDOC (Director Cox and NDOC purchasing agent, Greg Smith) and seven more representing business and the legislature. Time and again the minutes reflect Magnani asked for materials, lists of industries in operation and on occasion voiced his opposition to suggested actions advanced by the NDOC (such as the current proposal for a prison based recycling industry).  None of his requests resulted in Connett or the NDOC providing what he’d requested and his vote opposing actions proposed by the NDOC or SSI went against a majority of votes favoring the proposals.

Some members of the Committee would be absent for several meetings then return and cast a vote without any real understanding of what they were voting on – just that the proposals were favored by the NDOC.  So the suggestion presented by Connett last week to the BPC that the “advisory Committee” was a good representation for labor and businesses alike, was disingenuous and misleading at best.

Joining Union voices in opposition of making inmate labor available to private companies were a number of non-union businesses in a rare demonstration of solidarity.  Nearly a dozen union and non-union steel companies signed petitions to the BOPC objecting to the use of prison labor by Alpine Steel, Inc. as a means of underbidding them for steel construction projects in Nevada.  Alpine had been using inmate labor as a means of gaining an advantage over competitors since 2006.

The three petitions stated:

“Honorable Governor Sandoval, Attorney General Masto and Secretary of State Miller;

"We the undersigned owners of steel businesses in Nevada wish to voice our objection to competing against state subsidized prison industries in Southern Nevada.  Competing against prison labor reduces the number of jobs available in our industry and hampers our businesses from expanding.”

Signatories included; Southwest Steel, Tandem Industries, Vegas Steel, Inc., Southern Nevada Welding, A & N Custom Fabricators, XL Steel and Imperial Iron, Inc.

The letter from Southwest Steel outlined the objection(s) best:

“Honorable Governor Sandoval, Attorney General Masto & Secretary of State Miller;

As you all know too well, the construction industry in the Las Vegas valley is as competitive as it’s been in 20 years. With that being said, companies large and small have had to make radical changes; be it cutback of manpower, chase work in different markets or revisit our business model in its entirety, to maintain existence over the last 3 – 4 years has been a challenge.

“As the Vice President of Operations for one of the larger steel companies in Nevada, I wish to voice our Company’s objection to competing against state subsidized prison industries in Southern Nevada. Competing against prison labor reduces the number of jobs available in our industry and hampers our businesses from expanding.

” Tom Morgan
Vice President, Operations
Southwest Steel”

The references to “state subsidized prison industries” come from the unpaid debt outlined above.  For several years Alpine was able to continue operations at the High Desert State Prison, working approximately fifty inmates for several years without paying any of the costs associated with keeping the industry operating.

The state of Nevada has had to pay supervisory staff’s salaries, cover the utility costs of Alpine Steel and absorb the lost lease payments.  The total cost to Nevada’s Taxpayers? $438,000+ according to the forbearance agreement between the Attorney General’s office, NDOC and Alpine Steel:

Only after complaints against Alpine Steel’s use of inmate labor was it discovered that the company had been operating basically without covering the costs of operations – which were ultimately passed on to Nevada taxpayers.   Silver State Industries had curiously authorized the steel fabricating prison industry to remain open and available to Alpine even as SSI was losing money throughout 2011 and 2012, essentially “doubling down” in the hope of recovering its losses.  Once the “debt” and gambling was made public, SSI was forced to close the steel fabrication industry and deny further inmate labor to Alpine.

The foregoing debt is to be paid off over another four year period, very surprisingly given the circumstances, without any interest going forward, unless Alpine defaults on monthly payments of $5,000.  An additional state tax lien  was placed against Alpine Steel in January of this year for another $38,000 plus owed to the Nevada Department of Taxation.

The Alpine Steel story reveals that this company is responsible for the current problems and full media attention now focused upon Nevada’s prison industry program after the Associated Press,Bloomberg Business, Yahoo Finance and California media picked up this story and spread it as far as New Zealand and Australia.  The entire program and indeed, prisoner labor has now come under intense international scrutiny because of the complaints brought against Alpine Steel and the subsidization of its business using Nevadans’ tax dollars.  

This has now resulted in the prison industry program being publicly brought to its knees while state regulations and statutes are under review for amendment because of the actions of Alpine Steel and the NDOC - which occurred without proper oversight.  With the steel fabrication industry shut down, Randy Bulloch has been transformed from a “partner” in the prison industrial program, to a “debtor” forced by the state to repay a huge sum owed to the NDOC.  He has not melted into obscurity with the stigma of having bilked taxpayers out of nearly half a million dollars, instead coming to every meeting involving prison industries and doing his best to fight on behalf of access to inmate labor.

Bulloch and Alpine are out of the prison industry program and business, yet surprisingly, Bulloch is now the “Poster Child” for prisoner labor.  He is now being used by the NDOC to argue on behalf of continuing the program!  Bulloch and NDOC Deputy Director Connett have been seen conferring and whispering before and after budget hearings and meetings – like co-defendants instead of partners in a failed business relationship - a weird sort of relationship with one owing the other nearly a half a million dollars and both continuing to work together.

Mr. Bulloch confided to me in an exclusive interview that he would once again use prisoners to fabricate his steel components…as long as he did not have to pay “comparable wages” to inmates, as was suggested by Senator Bryan’s proposal.  Yet there he was on Tuesday, arguing fiercely in support of the prison industry program, his lone voice supporting prison industries and opposing the views presented by unions, unemployed workers and private businesses.  One has to wonder - why?

Curiously, Director Cox and Deputy Director Connett assign no blame for their current circumstances to Bulloch or Alpine - perhaps that is why Bulloch continues to act as a spokesman on behalf of prison industries.  It will be interesting to see if Randy Bulloch continues his advocacy on behalf of prison labor in future meetings or hearings in the absence of any official business relationship with prison industries.

Nevada companies argue that aside from being forced to compete against already low wages paid to prisoners by Alpine Steel, they have had to pay proper taxes, utilities, leases and workers compensation…or be closed down by the state of Nevada.  This creates a situation whereby the State of Nevada is subsidizing an unfair advantage to Alpine.   This not only hampers any business expansion by free enterprise companies, it also reduces the number of jobs available to unemployed steel workers in Nevada.

Critics of the prison industry programs operated by SSI point to the Legislature’s Interim Finance Committee (the Committee) on Industrial Programs as failing in their duties of oversight.  They blame the committee for failing to protect businesses and workers against prison industry operations.

This committee is made up of Assembly members, Legislators, business owners or representatives and the one member representing labor (Mr. Magnani):

Members
Assemblyman James Ohrenschall, Chair
Senator David R. Parks, Vice Chair
Senator Dean A. Rhoads
Assemblyman John Ellison
Bruce Aguilera, Las Vegas – (Vice President/General Counsel, Bellagio)
Michael Mackenzie, Las Vegas – (Principal, Operations Improvement Company)
Mike Magnani, Las Vegas – (Teamster/Union Representative)
Allen J. Puliz, Las Vegas – (Moving and Storage Co.)
James "Greg" Cox, Director, Department of Corrections
Greg Smith, Purchasing Division

Alternate Members
Debra Miller, Las Vegas
Scott Stolberg, Las Vegas
Richard Serlin, Las Vegas

While the arguments of a lack of protecting some businesses from unfair competition appear factual, other businesses represented on this Committee have profited handsomely from prison labor and industries.  In this undated article, NDOC Deputy Director, Howard Skolnik (who preceded Brian Connett) bragged about the prison industry, saying:

“Skolnik explained, ‘I suspect that most people don't know that anything they are using is made by inmates. More and more of it is. If you have been in many of our major properties you have seen a stained glass window, you have seen something that is manufactured in one of our institutions.’

“They built all the original stained glass in the Excalibur; make casino mattresses, chairs for attorneys, and exclusive lines of clothing for airport retailers. They make award plaques, reupholster cars and rebuild water trucks for a local water company…”

Those involved in the Casino industry in Nevada appear to have profited off of prison labor due to the manufacture of mattresses and custom stained glass products – as have clothing retailers selling to travelers and tourists passing through Nevada’s airports.

This “Committee” has been overseeing prison industries since the late 1980’s and every industry, product, contract with a private company and for determining the impact upon competing companies and workers, comes under their responsibility.  They had to approve the prison industry manufacture of the stained glass for the Excalibur and for the mattresses for casino/resorts…and the manufacture of clothing for sale to tourists.

Once the Committee makes their decision on new products or a new industry, that decision is supposed to then go to the Board of Prison Commissioners for final review and approval or denial.  In the recent case involving Alpine Steel, the BPC stated publicly that this was “an isolated incident when a contract was enacted without clearance from the prison board.”  Whether this was indeed an “isolated incident” or a practice of the Committee that became the standard over the years, is unknown.  Certainly the experience of Mr. Billow makes claims of Alpine Steel being an “isolated” incident difficult to swallow.

Throughout this story the elephant in the room remains the total lack of transparency and absence of independent oversight.  The Committee does not pursue any review of programs or industries submitted to them by the NDOC’s Deputy Director of Prison Industries.  Connett brings them a proposal for a new industry or product line and informs that he has determined this would be a viable industry or contract.  The only information obtained by the Committee is a one-sided presentation from the NDOC.  They perform no independent analysis, provide no notice to the public, labor unions of competing private businesses.  No opportunity is provided to any of these affected groups to attend a subsequent meeting where the proposal would be discussed.

Instead, as we now understand from both the NDOC Director and the BPC, the Committee has been operating as the final word on approving new industries.  The requirement of forwarding Committee recommendations to the BPC for final review and approval has been somehow eliminated.  The skipping of this important step results in the NDOC securing approval of an “interim” legislative body for new programs without notice or conference with the executive department.  The BPC has overall authority over the NDOC but in this manner they are kept out of the loop and the only safeguards provided to the public is a small Committee that has never performed their duties as required.

Even if the chain of review operated as required, this Committee would end up stamping proposals with their recommendation and forwarding it to the BPC – with a recommendation that was determined in the absence of any actual review, public input or notice.  Their determinations would be based solely upon the presentation made by the NDOC accompanied by a departmental analysis indicating the program and contract with a private company would be successful.

But, if as the BPC claims, the approval for the manufacture of products for the casinos, resorts and clothing retailers, water trucks, limousines and restoring classic cars, were ultimately not approved by them, they would still share responsibility with the Committee for lost jobs or contracts resulting from those operations.  They too have a duty to perform final reviews and failed to notice that new proposals were not being submitted.

The fact that the BPC is now attempting to address the issue and make corrections to ensure no more Nevadans lose jobs and businesses aren’t faced with unfair competition, is a benchmark.  It also highlights that the Committee has been shirking their duties for decades, approving whatever plans the NDOC and SSI put before them without vetting the company’s or the industries proposed by SSI.  They performed no independent or impartial reviews of such proposals, failed to determine factually the impact upon labor and other businesses before stamping each submission “approved”.  Again, one has to ask – why?

The proposal made by Senator Bryan makes good sense to most.  The argument against it came from NDOC Deputy Director Connett and Alpine’s owner, Randy Bulloch.  Both voiced their opposition to installing the PIE regulations as Nevada law or regulation, claiming that paying prisoners wages comparable to that paid on the outside, would remove the key incentive that attract businesses that exploit inmates    - and ultimately result in the loss of jobs to Nevadans.

Connett told the BPC, “I can’t pay prevailing wages.  If I have to pay prisoners prevailing wages, it would mean closing the industry program completely.”  That statement was more revealing than most who heard it realized.  In the PIE Program industries operated by SSI, prisoners are paid “minimum wage”, not “comparable” or “prevailing” wages as required.  SSI is required to consult with outside businesses and labor unions and groups prior to commencing any new PIE operation…and has not complied with these requirements either.

This explains why Director Cox and Connett have refused to mention or discuss the PIE Program when defending Nevada’s prison industries.  Nor has Connett explained his conflict of interest as head of the NCIA – which promotes prison industries and is tasked with ensuring compliance on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice. Another duty Deputy Director Connett has failed to fulfill.

Apparently the NDOC and top officials fear the BPC or general public looking at the PIE Program’s requirements, will find that the federal mandates have been ignored as well as existing state statutory requirements.  

In the next article I will report on my exclusive interview with Randy Bulloch and other interviews obtained while I was in Nevada for the BPC meeting.  I’ll also introduce Jacob’s Trading Company and owner Irwin Jacob and how both have attempted to build a unique empire using prison labor and factories.  JTC operates another of SSI’s prison industries in Nevada using female prisoners as a unique labor force and SSI has applied for funding to expand the facilities for JTC to put on a third shift and employ an additional 18 workers.  This discussion continues, while Nevada’s unemployed remains at near record levels and Governor Sandoval continues to inform that creating jobs is his number one priority.

2:40 PM PT: Regardless of whether Governor Sandoval and the BPC adopt the proposed PIE Program regulations as state reg's, the Governor stated, ""Under no circumstances would I want prison labor displacing private sector jobs," Sandoval said. "I don't want a situation where private contractors are underbidding by subsidizing with prison labor."
This statement combined with assurances that no further prison industries will be opened without approval from the BPC, indicates business owners and unemployed Nevadans are being offered at least a modicum of protection by the Governor and other members of the BPC.

ALEC, Koch and the Conservative led "War on the Middle Class"...

I've written extensively about the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the likes of Charles and David Koch, the Council for National Policy, the Heritage Foundation, Reason Foundation, CATO Institute, Freedom Works...etc, etc., and their involvement in starting, funding and advancing similar agendas targeting legislation beneficial to their corporate interests.

Usually I write about involvement of this core group related to incarceration, prison privatization and prison industries. I know to many this is simply not considered a "Hot Topic" - either in personal, business or political terms. This diary is published to show why it should be a hot topic and how the mechanics employed in this one ALEC led initiative is demonstrative of their agenda regarding pursuit of even more important issues facing us today.

I'll begin by saying that over the past decade we have been involved in a huge class war here in the U.S. It has been mostly ignored by many, because the skirmishes have been small scale when compared to larger issues that dominate our media and thus our minds. However, each of these tiny battles have led us to the situation today where the entire middle class is in a battle for it's very existence. The battle is brought upon us by the corporate elite representing the wealthiest segment of our society.

Criminal justice is but one of those "skirmishes" in this war. It is an important one though, for several reasons. The most important aspect is the huge financial windfall realized by these corporatists from our state and federal budgets for incarceration. The billions spent by the middle class on incarceration, is siphoned off through prison privatization of those incarcerated and by companies profiting off of incarceration in general; privatized health, food services, canteen operations, transportation, banking services, phone contracts and of huge importance - privatized prison industries.

Reports by independent and informed sources, provide statistics that as of 2007, American taxpayers spent $74 billion annually on incarceration, an increase of 72% since 1997 (Tracey Kyckelhahn, Justice Expenditure and Employment Extracts 2007, Table 1(Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2010) as reported by the Justice Policy Institute this week. Out of this huge sum of tax dollars, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and Geo Group (Geo) jointly reported $2.9 billion in revenue for 2010 alone (Corrections Corporation of America, 2010 Annual Report, 2011; The GEO Group, 2010 Annual Report (Boca Raton, FL): The GEO Group, 2011).

In addition to these "earned" profits by CCA and Geo, another $2.4 billion was taken in by companies through the sale of prisoner made goods in 2009. Together the private companies involved in private prison operations and prison industries are realizing more than $5 billion in income per year. This amount does not include peripheral income such as the profits made by Bail bond agents and insurers, medical, food service, banking or sale of products used in prison; chemical sprays, security equipment, construction of new prisons and expansion of existing ones. Altogether an estimated $11 billion dollars changes hands annually from U.S. incarceration and prison industries.

To anyone suffering through the economic situation over the past two or three years, this is a HUGE sum of money - and most of it paid out of state and federal appropriations set aside for correctional services and operations. Conservatives would have us believe that all these incarceration costs are because we as a society demand that we be made safe by locking up every possible individual that commits an offense against us - personally or upon our property. We're told it is because of these demands that so many are imprisoned and the cost of that imprisonment so expensive. These arguments have been used by Republicans since 1980 to increase incarceration by more than 650%, while putting into place legislation that allows their corporate masters and benefactors to realize the most profits possible from locking up everyone and throwing away the key.

Now lets take a close look at how this was done, why and the "mechanics". By doing this I'll demonstrate how these same manipulations and tactics are being used in a similar manner to win the "skirmishes" and ultimately this Class War - that is not even recognized as happening by many Americans...

From 1980 ALEC has been involved in writing model legislation involving criminal justice at the state level (lauding such efforts at their web site). Simultaneously through their huge number of Alumni who have gone on to posts within the federal government, or have been elected to the U.S. Congress, they also have pushed for federal legislation that comports with their state efforts; three strike laws, minimum mandatory drug and gun laws, truth in sentencing laws, replacement of government programs to provide bonding for those charged with, abolishing parole and similar legislation. These efforts have resulted today in more than 2.4 million of us incarcerated.

Also from 1980 on, ALEC developed and pushed their Model Legislation to expand privatization of state and federal prison facilities. Their Model Legislation's such as:

Targeted Contracting for Certain Correctional Facilities and Services Act
Resolution on Prison Expenditures
Inmate Labor Disclosure Act
Housing Out-of-State Prisoners in a Private Prison Act

have all been designed to benefit their long time members, CCA and Geo Group.
From 1993 ALEC has also been actively pursuing involvement in prison industry legislation. Their model legislation titled the "Prison Industries Act" is based upon exploiting the federal Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP) to allow private sector corporations, businesses and companies access to and use of prisoner labor as a cheap workforce and a means of increasing profits.

Through their legislative efforts, ALEC helped create our huge prison population of today. They were able to implement their model legislation on privatization of prisons in many states and on the federal level, creating a huge business niche with substantial profits for CCA and Geo. ALEC's efforts of privatization of prison industries - or allowance of the use of prisoners for corporate labor were equally successful, again resulting in huge profits to manufacturers and other member companies.

Now let's look at how they accomplished all of this so easily...

The criminal justice legislation mentioned above created the "workforce" for their prison industry initiatives. What needed to be done next was to expand prison industry operations state by state to create cheap jobs for inmates and high profits for their corporate membership.

Along came Ray Allen. Allen was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1993. As a "freshman" Conservative Republican lawmaker Allen was attracted to ALEC and joined their ranks. In 1993, legislation sponsored by Allen offered tax credits to corporations, encouraging them to engage in prison industries. In1997 he introduced ALEC's Model Prison Industries Act as proposed legislation in Texas and it became law. In 1999 he introduced more legislation on the state prison industry program and subsequent legislation amendments to his original legislation. While Allen was working so diligently on behalf of ALEC and prison industries, he became Chairman of the House Corrections Committee and ALEC's Criminal Justice and Homeland Security Task Force Chairman. In those capacities he assisted prison privatization efforts on behalf of ALEC members CCA and Geo side by side with his prison industry work.

In 1998 Allen participated in a meeting in Washington, D.C. titled: "Policies and Programs In Prison Industries". Key Note speaker was AG Janet Reno and other speakers included Pam Davis, PRIDE CEO and Chairman of the NCIA, FL. U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Crime (that just months before chaired a hearing on expansion of the federal prison industries). Also present as moderator was Warren Cikins, a representative of the Brookings Institution, another Koch and ALEC affiliate. Allen was also secretly lobbying on behalf of the National Correctional Industries Association (NCIA). As you can see from the articles and links, ALEC, the NCIA, Ray Allen and Koch affiliated Brookings Institution all came together at that meeting to promote expanding the PIECP program so that more corporations could take advantage of prison labor.

The U.S.Department of Justice issued the PIECP final guideline within 6 months of this "workshop meeting" attended by all of the above. Once the federal law was in place, prison industry in the U.S. exploded exponentially - along with the access to that labor by private corporations, many of which were members of ALEC or affiliated with Koch, Heritage or similar Conservative organizations and individuals. The results of the coordinated legislative and lobbying efforts of these lawmakers, corporations, individuals and organizations such as ALEC is today's estimated $2.5 billion dollar prison industry operation.

Just last October Attorney General Holder issued a memo applauding the continued growth of the federal prison population, and urged all federal procurement officers to "open their UNICOR" catalogs and buy - buy - buy products from them so they could expand the prison industries and put more inmates to work. With first Janet Reno and now Holder supporting this exploitation of prisoners as a workforce, the corruption has escalated to the highest office of law enforcement in the U.S. Such is the pervasive nature of this beast - fed by ALEC.

From the profits garnered from prison industries, and privatization, corporate members of ALEC contributed huge sums back to ALEC and affiliated right wing PAC's and political organizations. Conservatives have used both of these "Initiatives" to enrich themselves and to help fund other political efforts of ALEC and the likes of Koch through the Heritage and Reason foundations, etc. In plain terms, this money is being used to promote today's Republican initiatives: repealing healthcare, voter disenfranchisement, privatization of more jails, prisons and state operated facilities. Privatization and prison industry of the past is fueling ALEC and Koch's efforts against the middle class today.

Until this past year many of us had no idea there was even a "war" ongoing against the middle class. We perceived the machinations of the Bush administration and Republicans as simply more of the same political rhetoric between the parties that had been continuing for decades, and chose to ignore it and we did it at our own peril. By our ignorance we allowed this cabal to amass a huge - almost insurmountable - financial war chest, which they used in 2010 to push many Democrats and moderate Republicans from office. With a majority in state governors, state assemblies and ALEC Alumni (Boehner, Cantor, Kasich, Walker and others) holding U.S. and state positions of power and influence they believe they are now in a position of minority strength. They're using that influence to push ALEC's agenda over the top.

If you look at what's been happening on the front lines in Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio - to name just the top three states - and compare what's happening today to what has transpired in privatization and prison industry efforts in the past, we can easily discern the same pattern. ALEC member, the American Bail Coalition has used ALEC lawmaker members in Wisconsin to slip through a budget amendment to make way for a return of commercial bail bonding in that state. Previous legislative efforts to do that failed, so this time Rep. Robin Vos instead squeezed a last-minute provision into the state budget to enable the ABC to regain commercial bonding in Wisconsin. Of Course, Vos also serves as ALEC's Wisconsin State Chair.

A similar budget manipulation in Florida resulted in more than $100 million being slid to ALEC member GEO Group to build an unnecessary private prison facility in that state in 2008-09. This was accomplished by then ALEC member (and Alumni) Marcos Rubio and FL. House Speaker, Ray Sansom who has already resigned due to corruption and faces indictment for:

Perhaps the most notable individual charged to date is former Rep. Ray Sansom (R-Destin), who while serving as Rubio's budget chief inserted language into the Florida's 2008-2009 budget for what was to become Blackwater CF.

The FBI just issued subpoenas and is fully investigating that entire incident, looking particularly at the campaign contributions and lobbyist payments by Geo Group and to Rubio and Sansom. The fact that Florida has been forced to close up to five state run prisons to accommodate Geo's thirst for more prisoners in their beds, has been ignored by Governor Scott - another corporate hawk looking to fatten his own pocket. In fact Scott just supported legislation to privatize 18 counties in South Florida (home to Geo Group's headquarters) that will put another 15,000 state inmates in Geo's control at the taxpayer expense - a move even some Republicans oppose.

This, I think, clearly demonstrates the vast money being funneled into the pockets of legislators by corporations determined to have their way regarding access to taxpayer money. Today the President is faced with the challenge of repulsing the Republican's demands for no tax increases (actually rescinding the tax breaks given by Bush) while they go after Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other safety nets important to the middle class. President Obama must be made to see that he has to draw the line on cutting important programs for the middle class and stand firm on repealing the tax breaks that he extended just last year. We have to begin to slow the until now uncontrolled flow of money into the corporate coffers and from there into the campaigns and special interest projects of ALEC's alumni serving as U.S. lawmakers or Conservatives. Repealing these corporate tax breaks to corporations and the wealthy will begin to diminish that flow. Repealing the PIECP laws - or even just enforcing the mandatory laws of the program - will turn that tap another full turn and lessen access to the $2.5 billion prison industry by private companies and ALEC's corporate members. Doing both would severely limit the funding of the Conservative efforts in their unstated open war against the middle class.

Make no doubt, we are in fact under attack from all angles by these efforts. The media owned primarily by conglomerates and corporate masters such as Fox, Bloomberg and Gannett won't report on this war or the battles being fought on all these fronts. Instead they fill their shows, papers and radio reports with inane topics and when something surfaces that points to this war, they downplay the incident, and convince their readers, watchers and listeners that the story is simply more left wing rhetoric that should be ignored...

...and it has been ignored and for far too long. The future of our country and society hangs in the balance today. If we continue to wring our hands and do nothing that future is bleak indeed. Instead we should be taking part in the many demonstrations and protests taking place across the country. Since the exploitation began months ago in Wisconsin and spread like a Republican fueled wildfire across the Midwest, thousands have been speaking out, protesting, demonstrating and fighting for worker's rights, defending voter rights, fighting to stop defunding or our education and similar issues.

Collectively we must come together and for once present a united front against these attacks and the war itself. Join us in Protesting ALEC in August in New Orleans. If you can't come, donate to the effort. You can join or donate here: http://protestalec.org/. You can also join the Brave New Foundation in their efforts of exposing the Koch influence, opposing prison privatization and incarcerating immigrants for profits by Geo and CCA.

Please take a few seconds and sign my petition that will be sent to your state legislative members and Governor, asking that ALEC legislation be identified and their state members exposed.

I'll be in New Orleans in August and hope to see some of you there joining arms with us in this ongoing war against the middle class. If our President continues to capitulate to the demands of the minority over the needs and demands of the middle class, we must stand up and speak out for ourselves and our neighbors...just sayin'...

Slave Labor - In the trenches comparing treatment between the Haves and Have-Nots...

I think we should all step back for a moment and take a closer look at the manipulations that have occurred over the past two years involving our collapsing economy, corporate involvement and how that relates to the current tensions in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and elsewhere. Today there is no doubts left in anyone's mind that corporations such as JP Morgan, Bank of America, Leahman Brothers and other financial institutions were responsible for the collapse of the housing bubble, and the economy in general. Many of us lost our retirement savings, 401K's and other investments due to these machinations that collapsed everything.

The Government bailed all of these corporations out, feeling that unless they did - with our money - the financial sector would completely dissolve bankrupting the rest of our economy and creating a financial chaos in the U.S. of previously unknown proportions.

Now I have to admit I'm no economist and this is probably an amateurish description of how all this came about and resulted in where we are today. That being said, please follow this train of thought a moment of two longer before hitting the back button...

We bailed out these banks and investment corporations to the tune of more than 3/4 of a trillion dollars. This was money belonging to the taxpayers. Much of it has been transferred to our children and their children and this will be paid for by them in the future. Instead of loaning that money out to those in need of loans, the banks and investment firms used the money to acquire other financial companies or corporations that were floundering. At the same time they rewarded themselves with huge bonuses paid to top executives out of the "bail-out money" the government made available to them.

I believe that another use of the billions we've provided to these corporations has been used to fund lobbying and many campaigns of predominantly conservative Republican politicians that advance the agendas of these corporations at the state and national level(s). As I wrote earlier this week, Koch Industries had an unusual and cozy relationship with Kathleen Sebilius in Kansas when she was Governor, going so far as to "loan" her an economist to provide advice on cutting government spending in that state. As that diary also reported, Sebilius as our Secretary of the U.S. Health and Human Services subsequently approved an application submitted by Koch Industries for a cut of the $5 billion set aside for the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program offered under President Obama's Healthcare initiative. After fighting against the healthcare program from the start, Koch was one of the first in line with their hands out to take money available from that very program. At the same time they continued to fund conservative efforts of repealing the program altogether through direct individual political donations, lobbying and support of candidates that share the same conservative ideology as the Koch brothers.

Throughout it appears that our money provided to these corporate interests (such as Koch Industries) in the bail-out and other initiatives, is being used to further the goals of those corporations against us. Where Republicans have taken office - swept into Governorships, Senate and House seats in 2010, there has been a concerted effort of furthering the goals and agenda of the likes of these corporate elite. One of the more important parts of that agenda is the elimination of Unions and collective bargaining. Another is the matter of abortion and freedom of choice issues. Conservatives have continued battles on these issues for years now. They refuse to accept the opinions of the Court in actions such as Row V. Wade and those involving Unions and collective bargaining and right to work initiatives. They have managed to keep their views and arguments before the public for many decades now as they pursue a reversal of the laws pertaining to both.

In the run-up to the election last year, and even today, both of these key issues remain at the core of the Conservative agenda. Now some may ask how can the issue of fair wages and collective bargaining be related to prison privatization and prison industries - and my least favorite topic, Slave Labor? It is connected in a couple of ways that may not be immediately apparent to most.

First, since the mid 1990's corporations have been using federal laws to merge their production and manufacturing with prison industry operations. Under the PIE program they have been allowed to "partner" with those various state prison industries to use cheap inmate labor to manufacture their products. As these partnerships increased, more and more operations were moved out of the private sector and into the prison environment. This removed jobs from the private sector and put them in the hands of inmates. The prison setting prohibits unionizing, collective bargaining and striking for better or even fair wages by the inmate work force. They are paid no benefits; health insurance, unemployment protection, paid vacations or paid time off. In many states OSHA is not allowed to inspect or become involved in work-place safety or investigate accidents. Inmate workers hurt on the job are treated by the prison medical staff - not by outside work comp physicians or facilities (at the expense of the state taxpayer). In short, all of those things sought by corporate employers and fought for on their behalf by conservatives were found in the prison industries. This was recognized by companies as the nirvana sought by them; low wages, no unions, no benefit or retirement packages and responsibility for worker injuries and upkeep subsidized by the taxpayer. Does all this not sound exactly like what their end goals are for American workers?

How good are the products produced by prisoners in these industries? Are their products efficient and of the same quality as those produced in the private sector? Should we be afraid to fly on aircraft manufactured by Boeing that has dozens of sensitive electronic and cabling products made by prisoners? I say no to the quality and yes to the question of safety. Let's take a look at one example of why I answer these questions as I have.

Republicans - and in general, all politicians and the general public proudly profess that we support our troops fighting in Afghanistan and Irag. As I wrote in a previous diary, many - in fact most - of the equipment and materials being used by our troops today are made in prison. The Federal Prison Industries (UNICOR) has a near monopoly on armed forces gear and materials. Many of these products are manufactured in the prisons, wholesaled to Halliburton (or similar companies) and then retailed to the Department of Defense. One of those products made by the prisoners and distributed to the military serving overseas now, is helmets. Of course helmets have been a necessary part of any armed force, army or military body since the first World War.

Recently a private manufacturer received a government contract to manufacture some of those products for the Army and nearly all of them for the Marines. The contract called for this private manufacturer to utilize UNICOR to manufacture part of the orders (obviously to reduce costs) and it did so, using one of the factories owned by UNICOR in Texas. When many of the helmets made by the prison industry were inspected they immediately failed ballistics testing. Forty-four thousand of more than 600,000 such helmets were immediately recalled. Then it was learned that in 2007-08 UNICOR was awarded non-competitive contracts by the government to manufacture all of the helmets for the U.S. Army and Marines. Questions of safety were raised - along with those of using inmate labor at a time when our economy is in the tank, and millions of American workers were out of jobs and needed employment. Here is a quote taken from an article written by Derek Gilna that came out today in Prison Legal News:

"It is not widely known that UNICOR utilizes poorly paid and often indifferently supervised prisoners to manufacture not only goods for use in the federal prison system, but also products that are in direct competition with private-sector businesses. In the past UNICOR has obtained multiple contracts to make ballistic helmets for the U.S. military, and in 2007 it was awarded a non-competitive Army contract pursuant to a provision in federal procurement regulations.

"UNICOR was awarded another non-competitive contract in 2008, which comprised 100% of the helmet needs for the U.S. Marine Corps and effectively shut out private industry. According to Rep. Carney’s office, in both cases UNICOR’s products failed to pass first article testing – the process that is designed to ensure the equipment meets specifications – and after an 18-month delay, not a single acceptable helmet had been delivered.

“Because the inmates were making the helmets, the cost was down, but the main concern was the product being substandard,” said Rep. Carney. He also was critical of the fact that UNICOR was awarded the contracts during a time when the industrial and manufacturing sections of the U.S. economy were shedding private-sector jobs. “At a time when our economy is rebounding, there are other private firms eager and able to take on this important work, which will lead to the creation of crucial jobs in the United States,” Rep. Carney noted."

Even in the face of issues such as safety for our military personnel, the government is comfortable with awarding such non-competitive contracts for the manufacture of such important and critical equipment as helmets, necessary to keep our troops safe - to prison inmates. This is the federal prison side of the slave labor topic. The PIE program is the state side of the same subject and the government - specifically the Department of Justice is bullish on using state prison inmates to manufacture private sector products that all of us use daily. As I've done previously, here again is the link to the recruiting video used by the National Correctional Industries Association, the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the DOJ to recruit and encourage more private sector manufacturers to move their operations into a "nearby prison industry" to take advantage of highly skilled and willing prisoners...

This PIE Program allows private U.S. corporations to gain access to the vast number of prison inmates as a labor source. It not only allows it, the DOJ and the prison industries encourage it by informing companies that they don't have to outsource jobs overseas where shipping of their products back to the states cut into their profits. Instead they tell them to simply move entire operations into prison industries in the U.S. to take advantage of cheap but skilled labor and allow them to continue to use "Made in the U.S.A." labeling. At the same time the DOJ works hard to hide the use of prison labor by these participating corporations by not enforcing requirements that prison made goods be clearly marked as "Made in Prison by Prison Labor" labels on packaging.

By being allowed access to this captive work force, more and more jobs in the private sector have been steadily lost over the past 15 years. Private sector companies and businesses competing against those using slave labor have slowly been disappearing from the job and sales markets as pricing for their products were underbid or undercut time and again. Another example of this is occurring in Montana as I write this.

Because these same corporations that are using foreign labor to make their products are tiring of paying for shipment of those products back to the U.S., they moved operations into the high profit arena of prison industries to eliminate those costs. At the same time they are supporting an agenda to lower wages and eliminate any form of collective bargaining - public and private - in the U.S. so they can move their operations from inside our prisons and back from China and elsewhere. The obvious purpose of eliminating any form of unionized labor in America is to implement the same wages and conditions they enjoy from those other sources of labor. Just today MSNBC had a report on jobs in the U.S. and reported that jobs are available now, but the wages are much lower and the good paying jobs will never return. This clearly shows how effective this conservative agenda on behalf of their corporate sponsors has been.

As Conservative Republicans win governorships, senate and house seats across the U.S., this agenda I'm speaking of, has been promoted by the likes of ALEC and the Koch brothers and introduced in each state where they prevailed. No need to discuss Wisconsin here, we already know the agenda is in place there and that a phone call from a "Koch" will be quickly answered by Governor Walker as demonstrated yesterday. Down in Florida, Rick Scott won the gubernatorial election there last year and is calling for privatizing most/all of the prison system in that state - even with 8,000 empty beds in state run facilities - and privatization of education and other state programs. Same thing is happening in Indiana and Ohio regarding right to work legislation, union busting and privatization. In these states, conservative leaning media trumpet the benefits of passing such legislation with articles filled with statistics, facts and statements from supporters. Many of these facts and statistics are questionable and avoid informing us of the impact upon wages and employment is such legislation becomes law.

This site provides much information on the progress of privatization of state assets and programs, and the problems that followed. The truth is we have been involved in a war over wages and privatization for more than two decades now but the public has been blissfully unaware of the actual implications of what the issues mean to them as taxpayers and workers. With the explosion of protesting and demonstrating across the Midwest, many have finally been awakened and realize what is being jeopardized by the privatization and right to work initiatives advanced by the Conservative factions in their states.

What many still do not realize though, is that the assets owned by the states are the property of the taxpayers. This includes prisons and prison industries. Once an asset belonging to the citizens is sold, it is gone. It now becomes the property of the buyer to do with as they please. With prisons that cost millions of tax dollars to build, the transfer of those facilities to corporate ownership removes that asset from state ownership, but the taxpayers continue to pay the costs of imprisonment of inmates, but the money goes to the owners of the prison. Once they have control of the facilities it's a done deal and from there on out, the state and taxpayers are held captive to calls for increased spending to continue to house and provide care for the state inmates. While in this time of corporate driven economical downturn, the last thing we should be doing is giving/selling/transferring more and more taxpayer owned assets over to these corporations. We've already given them more than they deserve and they continue to stand before us with their hands outstretched, not satisfied until we also relinquish all right to our jobs and fair wages.

Now Louisiana is proposing to turn two of the state's prison facilities over to county Sheriff's to reduce state costs of incarceration while two more are about to be sold to private prison corporations that already run them under contract. A Google search about privatization efforts of state prisons returns numerous articles informing that this trend is widespread. There is no benefit to these privatizations to either the state or their taxpayers. Many articles, reports and other studies reveal time and again that there is no real savings through privatization and recidivism is not reduced by using private prison operations. Additionally, most states are now suffering serious financial and budgetary shortfalls and as many now realize the first cuts that are made are within the prisons themselves followed quickly by cuts in education, health programs and finally senior programs. Colorado is no exception and as this article informs, at the top of the list are cuts to prison programs.

At the same time these budgetary measures are being made, reducing private sector jobs along with rehabilitation programs to the inmates, each state is increasing their corrections budgets, led by Arizona. Governor Brewer turns every spare penny available in that state over to the DOC and the private prisons operated in that state. Even as lawmakers and Governors promise reducing their prison costs, they increase the budgets more each year. Today Corrections is one of the largest line item expenditures in most state's budgets, yet the "return" on the money spent is negligible as recidivism continues to climb. We're just not getting the bang for our buck that is necessary to impact upon reducing incarceration. We've already decreased arrests and crime in the U.S. since 1990, but can't get a grip on incarceration. The number one reason why is the involvement of corporations and profits derived by keeping prison populations at an all time high. There is absolutely no incentive for corporations to want to reduce the rates of incarceration and put themselves out of business. Why can't our Democratic lawmakers and the public see this?

In conclusion it boils down to simple terms. To drive down wages, companies have moved their operations overseas and into prisons. As the jobs disappeared, more and more Americans have been put upon unemployment and other social programs. This is all driven by the top 1% in the U.S. who hold all the wealth. They use the funds generated from profits to pay lobbyists to buy our legislative members to further their goals. Their bought lawmakers - mostly conservative - use ALEC (funded in part by Koch Industries and their foundations) to propose and enact legislation favorable to the corporations. These legislative efforts include(d): increased criminal laws, truth in sentencing, mandatory minimums, abolishing parole, and expansion of prison industries among others. Using the inmates those laws incarcerate, the companies move operations into the prison industries to take advantage of that large workforce to avoid having to pay standard wages to American workers. Conservatives have worked overtime to put their corporate masters in the cat-bird seat regarding imprisonment and profiting from that incarceration through privatization of prisons.

Now, again using the profits generated from a captive work force, the same companies fund conservative efforts of stifling private sector wages through initiatives proposed by the same lawmakers they always rely upon. They are funding the current legislation to increase privatization, eliminate Unions and collective bargaining rights. In the place of those they are promoting right to work legislation to now make it possible to have access to civilian labor at far reduced wages. All of this is in pursuit of more profits to make themselves richer and richer...and us poorer and poorer to the point we will be willing to work in skilled jobs for minimum wage. But wait, they're even pushing for the elimination of minimum wages in many states. So even that safety net is in jeopardy to workers. Now they believe the time is right to take over for our governments - state and federal - on most issues, believing there is no real need for government involvement in our society, as corporations can run it better.

Somehow we must realize that giving this cabal more and more tax dollars and the power and influence they purchase with those dollars is self-defeating. We should never have bailed out the banks and Wall Street as they brought the entire thing down around their own necks. We now see the kind of reward they have for our bailing them out - enslavement.

We have to wake up to the threats to our freedoms, jobs, livelihood, wages and fundamental rights before we're all working as slave laborers at wages comparable to China...for that's what these insidious bastards want for all of us. In the current fight...as the Unions go, so go we. Hate 'em or love 'em, without 'em we lose all voice in opposition to the course planned for us by the likes of Charles and David Koch, ALEC and their conservative lawmakers serving as lackeys...

Slave Labor - Koch Links to Greenberg Traurig, Palin and the theft of our jobs!

With the tanking economy of late, many municipal, county and state authorities are looking for ways to reduce their budgets. At the top of the list of ways to save money is the replacement of civil service workers and contractors that traditionally maintain public buildings, facilities and grounds. While corporations try and hide their use of prison labor from their customers and consumers in general, politicians are trumpeting their reliance upon cheap slave labor provided by prisoners to reduce taxpayer funded jobs.

Today we have a situation where the new "slavery" is in fact the "old slavery" under a new name and with a diverse ethnic makeup. Before and during our civil war, slavery was the major cause of the secession of the Confederate states from the Union. Southern states wanted to continue to use humans as chattel and slave to work their fields, small industries and for other cheap labor. It is funded and supported by many within the Tea ("Traitors Enslaving Americans" thanks to the wife for this definition) Party and their funders.

Our nation fought a war over this concept that resulted in the loss of millions of American lives. Sadly slavery is still alive and well in the U.S. but it has had it's name changed since that dark time. Now it's called "prison labor" and has its roots in using prisoners to provide cheap - and in many instances, free - labor in many public sector areas. The use of this new form of slave labor is so profitable that in 1979 the U.S. Congress was swayed to enact legislation to allow private companies to use inmates in the manufacture of products or to provide their services. This is the Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP) and simply stated it exists to allow for the "training" of prisoners while incarcerated to make them more employable upon release back to their communities.

While this is a genuinely necessary and needed tool in reducing recidivism, as with most other programs or laws that have attracted the attention of corporate entrepreneurs and CEO's, those interested about this program began finding ways to participate and get free or cheap prison labor. They weren't satisfied with the mandatory requirements of the legislation, so they formed the National Correctional Industries Association (NCIA, sort of their "union") to represent the themselves, participating corporations, prison industries and the vendors and suppliers involved in the PIE program. Then they managed to get the NCIA "chosen" as the enforcement and compliance arm of the program. Part of the compliance aspect is the "policy advisory" position, whereby the NCIA suggests amendments to or new policy initiatives to the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the DOJ who actually have responsibility for the program.

Using their policy advisor position, participants have been able to overcome many of the mandatory sections of 18 USC 1761(c); reducing prevailing wages to minimum wage rates, prohibition of using training programs and setting "entry level" wages at below prevailing wages, worker's compensation and the requirement that packaging have clear markings identifying the shipper, consignee and the prison industry where the products were manufactured. In addition the corporations saw no reason why allowed deductions taken for room and board should be given to the states to offset the costs of incarceration paid for by taxpayers. They lobbied for and received state laws or regulations that allowed all that money to be retained by the prison industry that deducted the money from inmate wages, to use those funds to offset the costs of running the PIE program operations.

Today PIECP and prison labor bears no real resemblance to the program as it was enacted and the legislative intent behind the law. It has been so manipulated that any company wishing to make use of free or cheap prison labor can do so with little effort or public notoriety. I wrote last week about a situation in Montana whereby this program is being used to provide a financial advantage of one company over another by the use of prisoners paid between $2.00 and $7.00 per day. I now have a copy of the legislation proposed by Montana Congressman Ed Greef to address this situation there in Montana. Of course the Bill died after being tabled in the Judiciary Committee. Rep Greef (R) has probably drawn the ire from fellow Republicans by his presentation of this legislation that brought attention to the contract he wanted stopped and PIECP.

Also today we are faced with the situation in Wisconsin about right to work and union busting legislation offered up by the Republican majority and Governor Walker (a puppet with one or both of the Koch brother's hands up his ass). Wisconsin also enjoys a place within the PIECP program, having been certified in 1993 and currently certified as participating in the program. Many are not aware that the Junior Senator from Wisconsin, Ron Johnson (a Tea Party supported candidate) who beat Russ Feingold in the last election, himself uses prisoners in his privately owned and run businesses; Pacur Inc. and Dynamic Drinkware LLC, two companies run by Johnson. These companies employ up to nine inmates at a time through a state Corrections Department jobs program.

John McCain benefited from the use of prisoner labor during his campaign appearances in Alabama during the 2008 Presidential campaign.

Maybe now it is becoming clearer that many states and their politicians are actively pursuing replacing civilian workers with prison labor. Let's take a quick look at the evidence of this:

1) Georgia - Atlanta, Gwinnet and Clayton Counties.

"Clayton prison already sends about 180 prisoners per day out on work details, saving the county roughly $2.8 million a year – after housing and other costs are factored in – that it would otherwise spend on county payroll.

“It helps offset the costs of county government,” the warden said.

About a dozen inmates work for the Clayton County Water Authority, doing everything from grounds maintenance to equipment repair and maintenance, general manager Michael Thomas said.

The authority isn’t a county department, so it pays the county prison $30 a day for each inmate. Thomas said there are additional costs to supervise the inmates (none have escaped in the last five years said Smith), but it’s still worth it.

Each inmate costs half as much as a regular employee when such things as medical benefits are considered, Thomas estimated.

“Obviously, they’re a lot cheaper than hiring somebody,” Thomas said. “We’re always trying to squeeze a nickel. So it helps.”

2) New Jersey

"The Division of Corrections utilizes inmate labor in various work details to defray their cost of incarceration. Inmates are utilized in the jail laundry, kitchen and internal maintenance jobs. Inmates who are not security risks are also utilized on outside details such as mowing lawns, painting and other outside details as necessary.

"On May 13, 2008 the Division of Corrections instituted the Labor Assistance Program as an alternative sentencing option for qualified individuals. This program was designed to divert low risk offenders sentenced for motor vehicle violations, disorderly person’s offenses and non-violent crimes from the jail. All participants must undergo and pass a background clearance to be accepted into the program.

"Offenders sentenced to the Labor Assistance Program pay an application fee that defrays the cost of processing and a background check. In addition, participants are required to pay a per diem fee for each day of sentence.

"The Labor Assistance Program operates on Saturdays and Sundays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The program participants are required to report to the jail property at 7:45 am to prepare for the day's work and are returned by 3:30 pm to clean and put away any equipment used. All work details are supervised by an officer who directs the inmate work and insures compliance with all rules and regulations.

"Request for Labor Assistance are accepted for County Departments, Courts, Schools, Municipalities and their respective agencies as well as non-profit organizations within Hunterdon County.

"An online calendar has been set up from which you may view the types of work currently being done by the inmate work programs and request a work detail. All requests for work details must be scheduled through the online calendar using the “REQUEST WORK DETAIL” button located beneath Division’s Logo. You may access the calendar at the following web address:

http://www.calendarwiz.com/laborassistance

3) Kansas -

"The Kansas Department of Corrections is considering putting inmates to work constructing low-income housing.

"He added that the type of housing inmates would build is not the kind being built by construction companies in Kansas right now. Instead, inmates would work on manufacturing homes inside the prison gates that would be sent out after completion.

“What has been under discussion previously has been building small, single family housing units,” Miskell said. “I’m not aware of anyone in Kansas in the private sector who is building these houses.”

"But Martha Smith, with the Kansas Manufactured Housing Association said they favor employing prisoners in work release programs while they serve their terms. A work release program would employ inmates within private industry instead of producing homes within prison walls.

“At this point in time with jobs so scare, there really isn’t a need for that kind of a program,” Smith said. “The work release program is a better program for everyone because it doesn’t take jobs away, it still provides training and if it works out, the prisoners have a job after they’re released,” Smith said.

"Last year, through a partnership with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, inmates constructed small cabins that were placed at Scott Lake and Prairie Dog State Park. The program is looking to expand this year and build five cabins.

“It’s a solid structure with bedrooms, kitchen and dining room but it’s a relatively small structure and they have been transported for placement at one or more of the state parks,” Miskell said.

The benefit of using inmate labor is two-fold, he said.

“It is helping teach extremely marketable skills for when they are released and it is designed to fill a niche for housing that doesn’t currently exist in communities that need this kind of housing,” Miskell said."

4) Maryland -

"Something like this is bound to make Lou Dobbs' head explode: A shortage of foreign crab-pickers in Maryland is forcing the seafood industry there to consider using state prisoners to do the hard, nasty, low-paying work.

"At issue is finding workers willing to spend their days picking the meat from pile after pile of steamed crabs so the product can be packaged for sale in little plastic tubs," writes the Baltimore Sun's Stephanie Desmon."

5) Nevada -

"CARSON CITY -- The Division of Forestry could save hundreds of thousands of dollars on approved and pending construction projects if it used more prison inmate labor, an audit released Tuesday said.

The Division of Internal Audits said a conservative estimate puts the savings at $620,000 if selected portions of the work on several proposed projects, from nursery renovations to dispatch center repairs, was done by inmates at state conservation camps."

6) New York -

"Two busloads of prisoners from Rikers Island — wearing matching red- and white-striped jumpsuits — have been setting up and breaking for Borough President Markowitz’s controversial concerts in Coney Island’s Asser Levy Park.

The inmates aren’t a threat to public safety, according to the city — but they are a heck of a bargain for Markowitz.

“It saves me money, that’s the motivation for having them!” said Debra Garcia, who is in charge of the Beep’s concerts. “It saves about a few thousand dollars a week.”

"Under the “Cool Hand Luke”-style program, the inmates set up 2,000 seats at the front of the park’s bandshell near Surf Avenue and West Fifth Street hours before the show. The next morning, the inmates are returned to the spot to collect the chairs.

"The work detail for prisoners — which also takes place at Wingate Field in Crown Heights as part of Markowitz’s Martin Luther King Jr. concert series — appears to be the only one of its kind in Brooklyn.

"A Department of Correction official said that there are only two other chain gang-style work crews in the city — both near Rikers Island.

7) WA. State

The foregoing represents only a small number of articles on this issue and the loss of thousands of public sector jobs to inmate workers. It's been happening all over American for several years now, but has become a plague of late. This is simply part and parcel of those with an agenda of cutting employment in the private sector markets by replacing workers with prisoners to save money and drive down wages and eliminate Unions and that terrible term "collective bargaining."

During the 2010 elections we all heard about Meg Whitman's use of illegal aliens at her residence. Of course, she later claimed no knowledge of the illegal status of her "maid" or housekeeper. Time and again Conservatives like Whitman and Ron Johnson in Wisconsin have been caught exploiting prison labor...then there's Texas state lawmakers. This article is from the Dallas Morning News. The link is no longer accessible from their archives (wonder why) but I have it and a link to where part of it is found. Here is an excerpt from it:

"Perk of public office: discount furniture
Critics fault officials' exclusive deal with prisons"

10:10 PM CST on Tuesday, February 7, 2006By DAVE MICHAELS / The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN – When Sen. Eddie Lucio built his South Texas dream home in 2003, he chose an unusual place to shop for furniture: Texas prisons.

For the dining room, inmates fashioned a table with the state seal on it, 10 chairs and six bar stools. For a private chapel, they constructed four kneelers, 12 chairs, a holy water font and two altar chairs. Total cost: $6,319.

"I liked the idea of getting things done handcrafted and by prisoners," said Mr. Lucio, a Democrat. "That is unique. It is a subject of conversation when people come visit me. I say, 'I ordered it from our own prisoners here.' "

"Mr. Lucio is one of dozens of lawmakers to buy items over the last three years from Texas Correctional Industries, a division of the state prison system that manufactures, among other things, furniture, signs and clothing. It gives inmates a chance to develop a trade or skill and saves state agencies money because, with no labor costs, items sell for far less than those from private businesses.

"And for lawmakers, buying the discounted goods is a perk of office.
Mr. Lucio is one of dozens of lawmakers to buy items over the last three years from Texas Correctional Industries, a division of the state prison system that manufactures, among other things, furniture, signs and clothing. It gives inmates a chance to develop a trade or skill and saves state agencies money because, with no labor costs, items sell for far less than those from private businesses.

"Allowing lawmakers to take advantage of not having to pay what they would pay at a retail store, and using it strictly for personal use, does not look good," Ms. Woodford said.

"Rep. Tony Goolsby, a Dallas Republican who is close to Mr. Lucio, said there's nothing wrong with personal purchases. Mr. Goolsby has an $1,100 replica of a historic desk from the Texas Capitol in his apartment in Austin.

"We're all born the same way, but we're not equal," he said. "Everybody gets perks."

"Many of his colleagues used campaign funds to buy items such as barbecue grills and bedroom furniture at prices far below retail.

"Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, had a bed frame, a dresser and a nightstand refinished in November for $219. Mr. Williams did not return phone calls seeking comment.

"Nate Crain, whose wife leads the criminal justice department's board, placed three orders together worth about $1,000 from Texas Correctional Industries in 2004 and 2005. Mr. Crain, a former Dallas County Republican Party chairman who is exploring a run for the chairmanship of the statewide party, reported in campaign records that he bought items as gifts for his volunteers and a Republican women's group.

"Board Chairman Christina Melton Crain said it was acceptable for her to order the items for her husband.

"I am allowed to order them and, as my spouse, he is allowed to pay for them," Ms. Crain said."

It isn't just the private sector that is experiencing these job losses, the Federal Prison Industries had to close several prison factories last year and lay off civilian supervisors and thousands of inmates. I have no sympathy for them because they brought about the collapse by undermining our wages and taking our jobs at every turn since 1995. However the FPI have a very influential "lawmaker" on their side and since the closings they have managed to re-open some of the closed plants and put many of the inmates back to work. This is because of the efforts of getting all federal purchasing agents to rededicate their efforts of purchasing every possible product from FPI under a "request" from U.S. Attorney General Holder.

Now some have called me crazy for implying that slave labor can be taking place under the Administration of our first African-American President. I have to say I wish that were the case but several factors just keep that from being factual. First the above memo from AG Holder in October of last year. Secondly there is the connections between the Koch Industries and Secretary Sebilius going back to Kansas when she served as Governor and the Kochsuckers loaned her an analyst to help her cut government spending - and just last year when she approved their application for a large chunk of Early Retiree Reinsurance Program after fighting President Obama's healthcare initiative before and after that approval. When we factor in that this attack on wages and unionization is being conducted by those capitalizing off of using inmate labor for profits while wanting to reduce our wages and Union busting and the President's refusal to become involved in the discussion, the situation becomes darker with implication. The fact that many of us have written to the President requesting a review of PIECP and how it is being used to take civilian jobs - without an acknowledgement or response from him or his administration, one has to question why he is refusing to join in the battle as he said he would do when campaigning? Now he has picked a Daley for his staff after making many statements that he would not have lobbyists in "his" administration. Now after more than two years of office, D.C. and the Obama Administration is top heavy with lobbyists and those who clearly support and lobby for corporations and laws such as the ones being attempted in Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida and elsewhere.

Sebilius made known the involvement of Koch Industries and Wal-Mart in donating to bringing some Kansas troops home for the holidays in 2007 and since then we see more and more indications that both Kochsuckers and Wal-Mart are involved in Conservative politics and their agenda. In Florida new Governor Scott chose a Wal-Mart executive, Bryan W. Koon as part of his staff (Emergency Management Chief). In addition Scott also chose a member of a high profile law firm as his Special Counsel to the Governor. Hayden Dempsey from the firm of Greenberg Traurig (Jack Abramoff's old lobbying firm) was chosen for this important position. Greenberg represents PRIDE Enterprises (the non-profit corporation that runs Florida's prison industries), lobbies for PRIDE and also lobbies on behalf of Koch Industries. How about this connection between John McCain, Koch Industries and Greenberg Traurig? It goes on and on with the Kochsuckers and their ilk such as Greenberg Traurig and Wal-Mart all interrelated and interconnected on a conservative agenda, with all of their names appearing linked to today's legislation, our lawmakers and of late...Wisconsin and the Union busting and RTW laws. Here's a Google Search that returned Koch Industries and Greenberg Traurig results (4,980 results).

Just what kind of law firm is Greenberg Traurig? Check out these links: Wikipedia (see controversies), Chicago Lawyer (GT) arrested for stealing $1 million. Then there's this about a Greenberg Partner under SEC investigation, just published last month.

How about connections to the Tea Party's favorite, Sarah Palin? Here's one link that says her career has been helped by a Greenberg Traurig partner and this one shows the involvement of GT in oil and gas issues on Alaska's north slope supported by Palin. This one reports the Koch brothers hiring Palin to help with PR after the Wisconsin demonstrations began. Here she spoke at an Americans for Prosperity event in April 2010, sponsored and funded by Kochsuckers.
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As can be seen from the foregoing, many states and municipalities are now replacing civilian workers with inmates. There are dozens of articles out there exposing this new concept and those implementing programs such as outlined above. A dozen here, a couple of dozen there...fifty or so here, a few private contracts there, they all add up to more and more jobs going away from the private sector and into prison. At the core of most of this are those I mentioned or linked to above. Some like GT and the Kochsuckers are the biggest names in their particular field or arena and have combined their efforts to reduce wages, expand use of prison labor and bust unions, as shown.

While corporations and companies exploiting prison labor make every effort to hide the fact that their labor or work force is made up of inmates from the public, those municipal, county and state agencies replacing civilian workers with inmates are quick to advertise this fact. They want the public to see them as being frugal with tax dollars and wisely spending only those dollars they have to on wages.

This ties in grandly with the ongoing demonstrations from coast to coast as conservatives push for more and more cuts to budgets, right to work legislation and an end to collective bargaining and unions. As my previous diaries - and those of other DK bloggers reveal - the Koch brothers (Kochsuckers) are funding most of these conservative wage and labor efforts through their foundations, along with other sympathetic PAC's and groups such as ALEC.

Conservative lawmakers belonging to ALEC and in the pockets of the Kochsuckers or others just like them, eagerly propose and support state legislation that benefits both their corporation and conservative agendas. Once these laws are put in place, they all profit from it - lawmaker and corporation alike - either through actual use of prison labor, lowered wages or from the dollars put in their pockets by lobbyists.

When all of this is put together we can see that slavery never vanished from the landscape of the U.S. The 13th Amendment left a loophole large enough to fly an Airbus 300 through it with plenty of clearance for each wingtip. It has simply been re-branded. Now it is no longer called slavery - its called "training." It still impacts upon African-Americans and other minorities especially. This training still allows the exploitation of other humans for the profit of individuals, companies, corporations and lawmakers nationwide. Our elections now have candidates taking advantage of "free" slave labor as John McCain did in Alabama in the '08 election cycle and New York's borough President Markowitz has more recently.

It is - as I've said numerous times - class warfare that is occurring and the "Haves" now have access to all the free or cheap slave labor they can use to increase the already substantial gap between the middle and upper classes in the U.S. Unless you're connected with the likes of the Kochsuckers you have no access to that free labor and the jobs some of us still have are in jeopardy of following those that have already disappeared inside prisons or overseas. Unless we as a working class society allow the Republicants and Kochsuckers to depress our wages and turn back the labor clock by 100 years, they're saying they'll take their ball and leave the game.

Those of you who have civil service jobs are in the most danger of being replaced with prisoners or being forced to accept substantial pay cuts. You and your jobs are the ones on the cusp of the abyss. You have to continue to fight for yourselves and the others in your community, while not as vulnerable as you, are still in jeopardy.

Those aligned against us have all the money and influence on their side. We have our dignity, desire to work for a living and fair wage, the ability to collectively bargain and to cast our votes as we see fit. I believe the latter is what is needed to replace the lawmakers who serve as paid servants of the likes of Koch, GT and other large corporations to steal our jobs, way of life and fair wages. Democrats this is your sign to come together and form a united front against the exploitation - of politics and prison labor - to steal America's legacy and meaning from us. Time's a wasting folks. The GOP funded agenda is in high gear and already planning "big things" for the rest of us after the 2012 election cycle. We outnumber them in registered voters and American principals. It's time for the first to fight for the latter or all of us will have to polish up our Chinese so we will be able to communicate with the Kochroaches...