Pubdate: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 Source: Orange County Register (CA) Copyright: 2000 The Orange County Register Contact: P.O. Box 11626, Santa Ana, CA 92711 Fax: (714) 565-3657 Website: http://www.ocregister.com/ Author: Ronald Fraser Note: Mr. Fraser writes on public policy issues for the DKT Liberty Project, a Washington-based nonprofit, civil liberties research organization. Bookmark: For Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act items http://www.mapinc.org/prop36.htm TAXPAYERS PAY A HIGH PRICE FOR CALIFORNIA'S OVERSTUFFED JAIL CELLS The Prison Industry Politically popular in Sacramento and Washington, tough-on-crime laws have filled our prisons to historic levels. But at what costs? Part of the price tag for keeping more than two million Americans behind bars can be counted; part is hidden. Taxpayers, businessmen and prison reformers each pay a different price. Higher Taxes As the prison population goes up, so does the tax bill to build new prisons, hire extra guards and feed and house more inmates. In 1997, California taxpayers paid $4 billion to operate correction facilities for 157,547 inmates - up from 24,569 prisoners in 1980. But taxes tell only part of the story. Subsidized Competition As the prison population goes up, so does the number of workers in prison factories. All 50 states and the federal government operate subsidized prison industries that hire inmates, on average, at $2 to $8 a day to produce goods and services that compete against private businesses. California-run prisons employ 6,300 inmates making textile, furniture and metal products. Nationally, more than 51,000 inmates work in state prison factories with total annual sales nearing $1 billion. Selling mainly to state agencies, these factories close state government markets to private firms. In addition, Californians thinking of opening an office furniture business must compete against 14 U.S. federal prison industry furniture plants employing 4,521 inmates. Federal furniture, textile, electronics and graphics prison factories currently operate in nine locations in the state, including Lompoc, Taft and Dublin. Worse still, federal acquisition regulations require federal agencies to purchase products made in federal correctional institutions. According to Paul Miller at the Independent Office Products and Furniture Dealers Association, these regulations effectively cut private furniture manufacturers and dealers out of $222 million a year in potential government sales. Another 16,445 federal inmates in textile, electronics, metals and graphic services plants cut private firms out of another $333 million in sales to the federal government. The Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business represent hundreds of thousands of small businessmen and have long lobbied in Washington - unsuccessfully so far - to break the market monopolies held by the Federal Prisons Industries. Pro-Prison Political Action As the number of state inmates goes up, so does the number of prison guards and administrators. By 1999 there were 30,874 federal and 391,015 state correctional employees. The 44,200 employees needed to run California's prison system in 1997 actually outnumbered state workers in California's parks, police, highways and health departments combined. To protect their jobs, prison workers form associations that promote pro-prison policies and resist prison-reform initiatives. For example, with a 61 percent for and 39 percent against vote on Nov. 7 California voters passed Proposition 36 calling for mandatory treatment - instead of imprisonment - for non-violent, first and second time drug offenders not caught selling or manufacturing drugs. Backers of Prop. 36 claim treatment is what these offenders really need and since treatment costs are in the $4,000 a year range, versus $25,000 for a year in jail, Californian taxpayers could save $100 to $150 million annually. Sponsoring television ads against Prop. 36 was the 28,000-member California Correctional Peace Officers Association. This same union in the early 1990s supported tough-on-crime legislation that helped fill the state's prisons. Union officials now fear Prop. 36 will shrink both the prison population and their membership. On the national level, the Correctional Industries Association, a trade group representing about 2,000 individual and corporate members, openly promotes prison workshops. The group's official legislative agenda supports putting more inmates to work and efforts to expand inmate employment through expanded market access for inmate-made products. Not surprisingly, federal and state prison policies are caught in a self-perpetuating cycle. First, tough-on-crime laws have put more than 300,000 drug offenders behind bars. Prison managers then use this cheap labor supply to expand prison factory output at the expense of private firms. To complete the cycle, entrenched pro-prison interest groups have now evolved into a political force standing in the way of common sense drug-law reforms. As our leaders in Sacramento and Washington are finding out, big prisons have a way of biting back. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens