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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2018)
A8 OFF PAGE ONE East Oregonian Friday, December 21, 2018 Economy: Prison program turns inmate labor into revenue Continued from Page A1 Department of Corrections and is set up to be completely self-sustaining. That means that OCE selling products isn’t just a matter of preference, but constitutionally mandated. “The Oregon Constitu- tion states, in part, that ‘Prison work products or services shall be available to any pub- lic agency … and shall be used as much as possible … to sup- port other government oper- ations,’” states a glossy 139- page OCE catalogue. According to OCE’s annual report, the agency generated a record $28.5 million in reve- nue in 2017, money that was derived from 10 OCE loca- tions across the state prison system. OCE sells wood products made at Two Rivers Correc- tional Institution in Umatilla, garments sewn at Eastern Ore- gon Correctional Institution in Pendleton, metal products fabricated at a Salem prison, and road signs produced at the prison in Ontario. OCE spokeswoman Barb Cannard said the Department of Corrections reviews each contract it makes with a pub- lic or private entity to deter- mine if OCE is competing with an existing vendor or business. She added that OCE has left “millions of dollars” on the table to avoid unfair competition. Approximately 40 inmates work at the TRCI woodshop, which resembles any other industrial work floor. During a Monday tour of the facility, inmates worked at stations dedicated to every step of wood furniture produc- tion, including computer-as- sisted drafting, carving, sand- ing, computer-assisted part manufacturing, varnishing, and upholstery. Scott Bartholomew, an out- side sales manager for OCE, said he viewed his job as “col- lecting homework” because the products he sells show the quality of the training each inmate receives. He and OCE coordinator Doug Wilson expounded on the benefits of the woodshop, saying that it provided inmates with real-world experience they can use once they’re released and also acted as an incentive for good behavior in TRCI because it’s the most desired job at the prison. Staff photo by E.J. Harris Approximately 40 inmates work in the wood shop making furniture for Oregon Corrections Enterprises at Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla. The state refers to any monetary payments prison- ers receive for their labor as “awards,” which is used to “promote good institutional conduct,” according to an OCE issue brief. Most payments are deter- mined through the Perfor- mance Recognition Awards System, which assigns points to prison laborers “based on performance and complexity of the work performed.” PRAS payments cap out at $82 per month, although prisoners can earn additional awards if they meet certain measures for performance, safety, or behavior. A smaller fraction of inmates are eligible for the Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program, a pro- gram that pays inmates a local prevailing wage when they make products that are sold to private businesses across state lines. Prison Blues at Eastern Oregon Correctional Institu- tion is one of the programs eligible for the certification program. Although inmates who do work for Prison Blues are paid wages similar to garment workers on the outside, they don’t take home most of their awards. Only 20 percent of of the certification program award is available to the inmate for dis- cretionary spending. The rest is split between taxes, child support, victim restitution, and program costs. PRAS is subject to its own deductions as well, including 10 percent for court-ordered financial obligations, 5 percent for a general victims fund, and 5 percent toward a transitional savings account that’s accessi- ble after release. In total, Oregon Depart- ment of Corrections inmates under OCE were awarded $2.7 million in 2017. That fig- ure was calculated after the certification program deduc- tions but before the PRAS deductions. Given that 1,419 inmates worked in OCE programs, prisoners earned an average of $1,902 per year. Although private ven- dors wouldn’t be able to pay an employee $82 or less per month for their labor, Cannard said businesses don’t have to account for the security and staffing that comes with run- ning the OCE program. Although Pendleton staff said the city got a good deal for the fire department fur- nishings, Cannard said OCE isn’t always the lowest cost option and the organization commonly loses contracts to private companies with lower bids. But Kelly Simon, an attor- ney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, said the reason Pendleton got a “screaming good deal” was because of the prison labor system’s exploitative practices. Simon said that although the ACLU can appreciate the training inmates receive and the contributions they make to the community through prison labor programs, the low pay and various deductions means inmates are returning to their communities “penniless” once they’re released. Regardless of the politics behind it, the furniture for the new Pendleton fire station will be manufactured at the Two Rivers Correctional Institution and furnish the new facility when it opens next year. PRAS PAYMENTS CAP OUT AT $82 PER MONTH, ALTHOUGH PRISONERS CAN EARN ADDITIONAL AWARDS IF THEY MEET CERTAIN MEASURES FOR PERFORMANCE, SAFETY, OR BEHAVIOR. Jobs: Winter brings more demand for temporary employment Continued from Page A1 job-seekers than openings. Bureau of Labor Statis- tics numbers from 2017 state that of a workforce of 36,924 in Umatilla County, 35,139 people were employed. Express, a national ser- vice with multiple branches in Oregon, is one of a few staffing agencies in Uma- tilla County. Other employ- ment services include Work- source Eastern Oregon, which includes some public and private agencies, as well as some agricultural staff- ing agencies like Atkinson Staffing. Connell said Express cur- rently has about 213 active associates and about 53 business clients to whom they supply workers. Cli- ents include large manufac- turers as well as small com- panies with just two or three clients. About 75 percent of their clients are businesses that involve some sort of physical labor, like manufac- turing, agriculture, construc- tion or food processing. The other 25 are administrative roles, including office jobs with agricultural or manu- facturing companies. During a conversation that usually lasts no more than an hour, employment specialists will find out as much as they can about the person’s desired job, such as minimum pay, how much they want to work and how far they’re willing to com- mute — Express covers cli- ents in Umatilla and Morrow counties. They discuss the person’s skills, things they do or don’t want to do, and their work history. Appli- cants are given a conditional offer of employment with Express, which then seeks out jobs for them. The employee’s relation- ship with Express could last anywhere from a few months to several years. “Some associates only want temp work,” Connell said. “Some client partners don’t ever hire our employ- ees, and they keep them on our payroll forever.” Some associates have done temp work through the agency for two or three years, Connell said. With lower unemploy- ment numbers, the applicant pool gets less varied, said Connell, and they see more applicants with the same skill sets. “The types of people we’re seeing, we already have 20 just like them,” she said. “Maybe they’re entry- level, not a lot of skills.” Staff photo by E.J. Harris Maintenance supervisor David Pichcuskie replaces a light bulb in a security light at the Boardman Trails Apartments on Thursday in Boardman. Skills, she said, can include forklift operators or refrigeration technicians, or someone with office skills, Bill: Farm bill signed without SNAP controls Continued from Page A1 adults ages 18-49 with- out children are required to work 20 hours a week to maintain their SNAP ben- efits. The House bill would have raised the age of recipi- ents subject to work require- ments from 49 to 59 and required parents with chil- dren older than 6 to work or participate in job train- ing. The House measure also sought to limit circum- stances under which families that qualify for other poverty programs can automatically be eligible for SNAP. None of those mea- sures made it into the final farm bill despite Trump’s endorsement. Now the administration is using reg- ulatory rulemaking to try to scale back the SNAP program. Work-eligible able-bod- ied adults without depen- dents, known as ABAWDs, can currently receive only three months of SNAP ben- efits in a three-year period if they don’t meet the 20-hour work requirement. But states with an unemployment rate of 10 percent or higher or a demonstrable lack of suffi- cient jobs can waive those limitations. States are also allowed to grant benefit extensions for 15 percent of their work-el- igible adult population without a waiver. If a state doesn’t use its 15 percent, it can bank the exemptions to distribute later, creating what Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue referred to as a “stockpile.” The USDA’s proposed rule would strip states’ abil- ity to issue waivers unless a city or county has an unem- ployment rate of 7 per- cent or higher. The waivers would be good for one year and would require the gov- ernor to support the request. States would no longer be able to bank their 15 per- cent exemptions. The new rule also would forbid states from granting waivers for geographic areas larger than a specific jurisdiction. Perdue said the pro- posed rule is a tradeoff for Trump’s support of the farm bill, which Trump signed Thursday. “I have directed Sec- retary Perdue to use his authority to close work requirement loopholes in the food stamp program,” Trump said at the signing ceremony. “That was a dif- ficult thing to get done, but the farmers wanted it done, we all wanted it done, and in the end, it’s going to make a lot of people happy.” Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday slammed the Trump admin- istration’s efforts to restrict SNAP. “Why at Christmas would you take food out of the mouths of American people?” she said. The USDA in February solicited public comment on ways to reform SNAP, and Perdue has repeatedly voiced support for scaling back the program. The Trump administra- tion’s effort, while cele- brated by some conserva- tives, has been met with criticism from advocates who say tightening restric- tions will result in more vul- nerable Americans, includ- ing children, going hungry. A Brookings Institu- tion study published this summer said more strin- gent work requirements are likely to hurt those who are already part of the work- force but whose employ- ment is sporadic. House Agriculture Chair- man Michael Conaway, R-Texas, was the pri- mary champion for tighter SNAP work requirements in the House farm bill and remained committed to the provision throughout negotiations. Conaway praised the rule Thursday for “creat- ing a roadmap for states to more effectively engage ABAWDs in this booming economy.” Conaway in Septem- ber blasted the Senate for refusing to adopt work requirements and sug- gested that Perdue doesn’t have the authority to make broad changes to the SNAP program. “The Senate seems to have abandoned the idea that it is Congress’ responsi- bility to fix the waiver issue and that somehow Secre- tary Perdue could wave a magic wand and fix that. It’s not his responsibility; he does not have the authority,” Conaway said in an inter- view with Pro Farmer, a trade publication. Destiny Theatres like bilingual administrative assistants. “Those people aren’t nec- essarily looking for work, they’re already employed,” she said. The average wage for jobs through Express is cur- rently $15.09 an hour, Con- nell said. The majority of the asso- ciates who come in seeking jobs are recently laid off or have just moved to the area, but there are a few retired people who will take seek out temp jobs, looking for variety. David Pichcuskie is one of those people. The Stan- field resident was an asso- ciate of Express Employ- ment services for nearly two years, working temporary jobs around Umatilla County before settling on a perma- nent job this summer, man- aging apartment complexes for Umatilla County Hous- ing Authority. Those temp jobs included working as a flagger with the railroad, filling out orders and distributing food for CAPECO, and driving a forklift for Dupont Pioneer. Pichcuskie had owned a business for several years, but when he retired, he wanted something that would allow him some flexibility. “I don’t think I’ve turned down any job,” he said, add- ing that he’s enjoyed most of the work, though there are a few jobs he’d prefer not to do again. “Like emptying a rail car filled with coal dust — by hand,” he said. Pichcuskie said the range of jobs taught him about dealing with different indus- tries, as well as Occupational Safety and Health Adminis- tration (OSHA) guidelines. “You learn a lot when you’re bouncing from place to place,” he said. Pichcuskie said people who want to keep working have to be willing to broaden their scope. “You’ve got to not refuse to do jobs,” he said. Connell said the biggest reason that Express would not make a conditional offer of employment is if the per- son’s specifications are too narrow — they may not have jobs that meet those requests. “Someone might want to make $70,000 a year,” she said, “but if they’re not will- ing to budge on that, we most likely would stop the inter- view, and tell them we’ll keep their information, but we just don’t have jobs that meet your specifications.” Mom & Baby Support Group Fri - Thur, Dec. 21 - Dec. 27, 2018 Subject to change. Check times daily. Hermiston Stadium 8 Hwy 395 & Theatre Ln - 567-1556 MoviesInHermiston.com Starts Tuesday, December 25, 2018! H OLMES & W ATSON (PG-13) A QUAMAN (PG-13) M ARY P OPPINS R ETURNS (PG) We meet every Friday 9AM -11AM at St Anthony Hospital in Conference Rooms 3 & 4 This support group is Free and specifically geared toward Moms and Caregivers. M ARY P OPPINS R ETURNS (PG) S PIDER -M AN : I NTO S PIDER -V ERSE (PG) T HE M ULE (R-17) We provide Free snacks, support, breastfeeding help and baby weigh ins. M ORTAL E NGINES (PG-13) St. Anthony Clinic R ALPH B REAKS I NTERNET (PG) 3001 St. Anthony Way Pendleton, Oregon www.sahpendleton.org T HE G RINCH (PG) B OOK YOUR PARTY AT THE C INEMA . Check ONLINE for more information!
