5,000 Inmates Hold Company Jobs
Across the country, thousands of inmates are picking up paychecks each month from private companies that have formed partnerships with state prisons. And most of the work goes on behind prison walls. In the last eight years, the number of inmates working in such programs nationally has more than tripled to about 5,000, according to the National Correctional Industries Assn. But California, with the largest state prison system, has fallen far off the pace, with fewer than 150 inmate workers in six ventures. [more]