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East Oregonian
Friday, December 21, 2018
Economy: Prison program turns inmate labor into revenue
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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!