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What are prison work programs and how common are they?

Existing prison labor data lacks frequency and depth.

Updated on Thu, September 22, 2022 by the USAFacts Team

Sixty-one percent of prison inmates in the United States have work assignments, according to data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS).

BJS publishes some national data about work programs in prisons, but there is still room for improving this data to be more frequent and cover more topics related to prison labor.

What are prison work programs?

Prison work programs include several ways that prison inmates provide work to the prison, the public, or private companies.

Inmates can work in prison operations, meaning work that supports the operations of the prisons themselves, such as maintenance, food services, and office or administrative work.

Inmates can work in prison industry programs. Prison industries are government-owned businesses [1] that create and sell products made by inmates, such as license plates or facemasks .

Inmates can also be employed in public work programs, in which inmates provide services for the public that would otherwise be funded by government agencies. This includes road repairs or litter cleanup.

Private companies can also employ inmates through the Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP). This program puts inmates into realistic work environments, pays them prevailing wages, and aims to help them develop marketable skills that will help inmates get jobs after being released from prison. There are a total of 37 state PIECP-certified programs and four county programs. These programs involve at least 175 partnerships with private businesses.

How common are prison work programs?

According to the BJS’s Census of State and Federal Adult Correctional Facilities , more than 98% of prisons had work programs in 2019. Work programs are available in all 50 states and in both federal and state prisons.

Prison operations are the most common type of work program [2] , available in about 95% of prisons. Prison industries (such as license plate, wood product, or textiles manufacturing) are available in about half of all prisons.

Every type of work program reported by BJS was more common in public facilities than in private facilities. In 2019, there were 1,079 public prisons and 82 private prisons [3] .

Among public prisons, prison operations and prison industries were more common in federal prisons, while public works and farming or agricultural work were more common in state-run prisons. In 2019, there were 111 federal prisons and 968 state prisons.

The prisons with the largest number of inmates all have work programs [4] . This boosts the share of inmates held in a prison with work programs. In 2019, 99.6% of inmates were in prisons that offered any work program, and 97.7% were in prisons offering prison operation work programs.

How many prisoners participate in prison work programs?

According to the BJS’s Survey of Prison Inmates , 60.9% of inmates have work assignments. The share of prisoners with work assignments varies across demographic groups, with women and those with higher levels of educational attainment being more likely to have work assignments compared with the overall prison population.

Women and more educated inmates participate more in work assignments.

How can government data about prison work programs be improved.

While some data on prison labor is currently available from government sources, this data would be more useful to the public and to policymakers if it were collected more frequently and covered additional topics related to prison labor.

The two primary national datasets with information about prison labor are collected at most every five to seven years. The data from the Survey of Prison Inmates was last collected in 2016, and the Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities was last conducted in 2019.

Additionally, the data that is covered in these sources does not cover several topics that may be important to the public and policymakers. For example, government data on how much inmates are paid does not currently exist. Some states publish information about inmate compensation, but the type of data provided varies and is difficult to compare across states.

Other topics that could be of interest but are not yet reflected in government data include whether inmates are required to have work assignments, the total economic output created through prison work programs, inmate working conditions, and who benefits from prison labor.

Some of this data is already collected by prisons or reported by states, but this data can be difficult to find and aggregate, the topics aren’t consistent across states, and much of the data is in PDF documents, making it difficult to extract and compile. There is an opportunity for the federal government to create data collection standards and requirements making it easier to collect existing data in one place and in a common format.

Learn more from USAFacts and get the data directly in your inbox by signing up for our newsletter.

Florida and Mississippi’s prison industries are run through private non-profit corporations.

Farming and agricultural work is included in data from the Bureau of Justice statistics, but it is not enumerated on whether it’s treated as support work, prison industry, or private business labor.

According to the Census of State and Federal Adult Correctional Facilities, private prisons include facilities that are under contract to hold prisoners for state correctional authorities or the Federal Bureau of Prisons but are not operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons or state departments of corrections.

Out of prisons that reported whether work programs were available (97.4% of all prisons). Every prison in the top 30% by the number of prisoners had at least one work program.

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Home » News » Work Assignments in the Federal Bureau of Prisons

Work Assignments in the Federal Bureau of Prisons

• October 28, 2013

Recently a Prison Law Blog reader whose father is preparing to serve time in the Federal Bureau of Prisons inquired about what type of work assignments his father would have to engage in.  In an effort to better disseminate this type of information, we’ve decided to answer his question in article format.  This way, the knowledge will become publicly available to those outside of prison.

Are All Federal Prisoners Required to Have an Institutional Work Assignment?

While most certainly the ire of many federal prison inmates, those who are medically able are required to work.  Medically able means they can physically and mentally engage in relatively menial tasks.  The bar is set low: if the federal prisoner can stand and serve food or bend over and pick up trash or push a broom, then he works.  If the prisoner is unable to engage in these simple tasks, they could be assigned to a job where they just sit all day and work (e.g., rolling plastic spoons and napkins together) or, if they are unable to even engage in these basic work-related tasks, they might be excused from a prison job altogether, but this is the exception to the rule and must be authorized through the prison’s health services department.

Types of Work Assignments

There are many types of work available in federal prisons.  Federal prison inmates can be assigned to the kitchen to cook, wash, or serve.  They can be assigned to a housing unit to sweep, mop, pick up trash, wax floors, scrub showers, or issue cleaning supplies.  They could even be assigned to a prison maintenance work detail to replace broken water fountains or toilets, replace burned-out light bulbs, paint rooms or hallways, or any other number of tasks required to keep the federal prison in working order.  Still, a federal prison inmate could be required to pick up trash around the prison for an hour a day or even to merely sign their name on a pay roster once a month for such alleged work without ever having to show up to actually work.  The long and short of it is that prisons are like small cities.  There are garbage men, cooks, grass cutters, dishwashers, electricians, plumbers, and everything else that the city — or, in this case, the prison — requires to operate.

Pay for Prison Jobs

Pay for prison work is generally horrendous.  At the bottom end of the spectrum, federal prisoners could be paid as low as 12 cents per hour.  This is not significantly common, but more than 30 cents per hour is uncommon.  Generally speaking, most federal prisoners make between $15 and $30 per month.  Exceptions are present, but these are often for full-time work details, which require significant effort and time.  While some prisoners can eventually earn upwards of $100 or more a month, this often takes years of full-time work to gain a job with such status and benefit, and few hold such positions.

Obtaining a Desirable Work Detail

Once the federal prison inmate understands what type of work they desire, they need to seek assignment to the specific work detail.  This can be done through one of three methods:

• Submitting a cop-out is as simple as obtaining a cop-out from the inmate’s housing unit guard, writing the request for employment on it, and submitting it to the head guard over the work detail.  The guard could grant or deny the request or, more likely, ignore the request.  While this method of seeking desired prison employment could work, it is not the most effective way of influencing a work assignment placement.
• More effective than submitting a cop-out is to ask a friend to call in a favor.  The process here is simple.  The prisoner seeking a job asks their friends and associates if any of them are friendly or connected with the head inmate over the desired work detail. If someone is found, the connection is asked to make the request on behalf of the prisoner seeking the prison job.
• The final and most effective method of influencing a work assignment is to merely pay the head inmate over the desired work detail.  This is a simple task but does require funding.  In order to do so, the prisoner seeking the work assignment goes to the location of the work detail, asks around for the head clerk, and explains that they want to be assigned to the work crew.  An offer of payment is made, and if there is space and the ability for the work assignment to be influenced, the head inmate clerk will dictate terms.  Payment in the $5 to $10 range is customary when influencing a work assignment.

If a new arrival does not seek approval for a specific work detail, he or she will likely be placed in the chow hall cleaning tables before, during, and after meals.  Many strongly object to this sort of time-consuming and menial work.  As such, the drive to find a more suitable work assignment is prevalent.

Actualities of Prison Work

The truth of the matter is that most federal prisoners seek out jobs that don’t require a whole lot of work.  These are commonly referred to as “no-show” or “sign-in” jobs, where the federal prison inmate only has to show up occasionally or even only once a month to sign their paysheet.  But, for those who want to work and make a small amount of money, there are jobs that either pay better (e.g., clerk positions, UNICOR employment, etc.), provide access to items that can be stolen and sold (e.g., kitchen workers often steal and sell food and vegetables), or provide access to tools which can be used to engage in a trade (e.g., an electrician could fix radios, headphones, and MP3 players).  All it takes is a bit of imagination, connections, or effort, and the desired type of prison employment can be sought and attained.

Published Oct 28, 2013 by Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA | Last Updated by Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA on Jul 16, 2023 at 1:44 am

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Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 15, § 3044 - Inmate Work Groups and Privilege Groups

• State Regulations

Note: Authority cited: Cal. Const., art. 1, sec. 32(b); and Sections 2700 , 2701 and 5058 , Penal Code. Reference: Cal. Const., art. 1, sec. 32(a)(2); Sections 2932 , 2933 , 2933.05 , 2933.3 , 2933.6 , 2935 , 5005 , 5054 and 5068 , Penal Code; and In re Monigold, 205 Cal.App.3d 1224 (1988).

State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.

Why has Illinois released hundreds of prison inmates earlier than expected?

A pr. 16—In Reality Check stories, BND journalists dig deeper into questions over facts, consequences and accountability. Read more. Story idea? [email protected] .

Michelle L. Laux was 31 when she was found beaten to death along a rural Clinton County road in 1993. One of the men convicted in her death, Robert Nail, was given an 80-year prison sentence that he began serving in May 1994.

But as part of a new state law that requires the Illinois Department of Corrections to recalculate the credit inmates have earned to reduce their time in prison, Nail, now 50, was released in February, nearly 50 years before the end of his full sentence.

The move upset Clinton County Sheriff Dan Travous, who said in February that Nail "failed to receive the punishment he deserved for this unthinkable crime." He also said Nail was able to "get years slashed off his sentence for working while incarcerated."

Known as House Bill 3026, the new law went into effect on Jan. 1.

In wake of Travous' criticism of the law, the Belleville News-Democrat asked the Illinois Department of Corrections for information about how many persons have been released like Nail. As of March 21, 409 inmates received their early release, according to the latest available statistics.

The Department of Corrections told the BND that about 1,750 convicted individuals had their sentencing credits recalculated under the new law. This means 1,341 other inmates still in custody also received additional credits against their sentences which may eventually lead to an earlier release.

Inmates can earn sentencing credits by completing various programs while in prison, including:

—Substance abuse programs

—Correctional industry assignments

—Educational programs

—Work-release programs or activities

—Behavior modification programs

—Life skills courses

—Re-entry planning

A list of the names of the 409 inmates and the counties where they were convicted was not available since the department's tracking system for sentence credit was not set up to break out the persons released solely because of House Bill 3026, the department said.

The release of 409 prisoners would represent 1.37% of the statewide prison population of 29,828 that was listed as of Dec. 31.

The Department of Corrections reports that since 2013, the overall prison population has been steadily dropping. There were 48,653 inmates across the state in 2013.

Inmates serving a term of natural life imprisonment are not eligible to receive sentence credit under House Bill 3026.

Under Illinois law, those ordered to serve prison time can be required to serve 50%, 75%, 85% or 100% of their sentences. The percentages increase based on the severity of the offense, according to the Department of Corrections.

"Individuals serving 100% sentencing can participate in programming, education and work, but are not eligible to receive an award of sentence credit," according to the department.

Victim notification

The department's Victim Services Unit provides assistance to crime victims and has updated its web page regarding House Bill 3026.

"Please note that the award of additional sentencing credit for qualified individuals may be significant and may advance their release dates," the page states.

The Victim Services Unit as well as the Illinois Prisoner Review Board have registration services that victims and victim advocates can sign up for to get notification if an inmate is scheduled to be released.

The Department of Corrections recommends victims sign up for both services.

Sentencing guidelines

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed House Bill 3026 last summer after it received overwhelming support by lawmakers. It passed 113-0 in the House and the Senate approved it 53-1.

Sen. Andrew Chesney, R-Freeport, cast the lone dissenting vote.

Chesney, who represents a district near Rockford in northern Illinois, said he has opposed nearly all types of sentencing credit.

"I see that differently than all of the Democrats and even members of my own party as it relates to sentencing guidelines and the terms that these convicted offenders have to serve," Chesney said. "We need to be a state in the country of law and order and in an effort to maintain that, you have to have consequences for criminal behavior.

"If you're unwilling to put consequences behind criminal behavior, you're going to have more criminal behavior."

House Bill 3026 was praised by the Alliance for Safety and Justice, which says it "aims to replace over-incarceration with more effective public safety solutions rooted in crime prevention, community health, rehabilitation and support for crime victims."

The nonprofit organization said in a statement the bill would "help to reduce recidivism and stop cycles of violence in Illinois."

"Providing incentives for people to be prepared for life after prison is a proven approach to improving outcomes and making communities safer," the statement said. "After completing rehabilitation programs, returning citizens are less likely to return to prison and more likely to be productive citizens."

(c)2024 the Belleville News-Democrat (Belleville, Ill.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Inmate resuscitated after five doses of Naloxone at Northern Branch Jail Monday evening

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – An inmate was resuscitated successfully after an apparent overdose at the Northern Branch Jail Monday evening.

On Apr. 15, 2024, around 7:44 p.m., a Custody Deputy at the Northern Branch Jail discovered an unresponsive inmate in a housing cell state Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office.

The Custody Deputy called for medical assistance and, with the assistance of WellPath healthcare staff, administered five rounds of Naloxone before the arrival of an ambulance detail the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office.

According to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office, the inmate regained a pulse while remaining unconscious before he was transported to a nearby hospital where he is currently conscious and expected to recover.

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