SD19 - Report of the Joint Subcommittee to Study the Ecomonic Productivity of the Prison Population and Work Release Programs

  • Published: 1984
  • Author: Joint Subcommittee on the Economic Productivity of the Prison Population and on Work Release Programs
  • Enabling Authority: Senate Joint Resolution 39 (Regular Session, 1983)

Executive Summary:
The Joint Subcommittee on Economic Productivity of the Prison Population and on Work Release Programs was initially authorized to conduct its study by Senate Joint Resolution No. 91, agreed to during the 1980 Session of the General Assembly. The Joint Subcommittee is composed of members of the Senate Committees on Finance and on Rehabilitation and Social Services and the House Committees on Appropriations and on Health, Welfare and Institutions. The study was continued during 1981 pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution No. 128 and again in 1982 by Senate Joint Resolution No. 33. The Joint Subcommittee continued the study for its fourth year in 1983 as directed by the legislature in Senate Joint Resolution No. 39, which states that during 1983 the Joint Subcommittee shall attend to the following matters:

1. Expanding the prisoner highway labor force by monitoring the implementation of recommendations made in 1982. The Director of the Department of Corrections and the Director of the Department of Highways and Transportation, in concert with the Secretaries administering those Departments, shall meet to study ways to facilitate utilization of prison labor and shall report their progress to the Joint Subcommittee by December 1, 1983.

2. Monitoring the implementation of the recommendations of the task force studying the expansion of the printing and data processing services of the Department of Corrections and further encouraging use of the Department's printing services by all agencies of the Commonwealth.

3. Locating a source of funds for expansion and development of all phases of the prison work programs, but especially the agribusiness program.

Senate Joint Resolution No. 39 is contained in Appendix A of this report.

During 1983, the Joint Subcommittee, in an effort to provide a forum for discussion and to carry out the monitoring responsibilities charged to it by the 1983 continuing resolution, met jointly with the Subcommittee on Public Safety of the Senate Finance Committee. Representatives from the Department of Corrections, Department of Highways and Transportation and the Department of General Services presented progress reports of their efforts to implement the Joint Subcommittee's 1982 recommendations.