Bill introduced to limit prison industries' sales

There is a new industry in Union County that will benefit the environment but not help the jobless rate.

The approximately 100 employees are inmates at the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary.

The new industry is recycling old electronic devices and computers.

For years, inmates at the

Sales of those products to the federal government, the only customer for the Bureau of Prisons, totaled approximately $8 million last fiscal year, Ray Laws, associate warden in charge of prison industries at Lewisburg, says.

The recycling of electronic devices and computers is an addition to the other work and will be a low sale, high volume operation with the major benefit being reducing what goes to landfills, Laws says.

While prison industries may sell its products only to the federal government, the source of the old computers and electronic devices is not limited, he says. Currently, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is the largest supplier of these devices, he says.

When they are received by the truckload, those that appear to be in working order are tested, he says. If they can be put in working order they are donated or sold, he explains.

For the rest, inmates break them down so the various components can be sold to recyclers or manufacturers, he says.

Lewisburg is one of six prisons in the United States and the only one in this region that has added this recycling operation to its industry offerings, he says.

It comes at a time when a Republican congressman from Michigan is pushing legislation that would force a drastic cut in prison industries.

A bill authored by U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra would put a ceiling on how much the Bureau of Prisons could sell to the federal government so that private industry could get more contracts.

The Bureau of Prisons estimates if the bill becomes law, 6,000 inmate jobs would be lost along with revenue of $160 million annually. It points out the government has the right to turn to the private sector if products made by inmates do not meet specifications.

Prison industries have been supplying the federal government since 1934 so it is not like inmates suddenly are taking work away from the private sector, Lewisburg Warden Scott Dodrill says.

Providing work for inmates reduces their idle time when they could cause a problem, he says.