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Industries keep(Continued From Page 1A)dedicated to the manufacture of architectural signs.It is a successful program and it is a program that inmates want to become part of. There are at least 286 inmates who are on a waiting list to become part of the work program.Inmates in the local program earn 22 cents an hour. The top end of the pay scale is $1.15 an hour.Bidwell and Eugene Gullespie, UNICOR superintendent, say the FPI program is structured and run as a business.The local prison officials point out that during fiscal year 1995 the prison industries program nationwide had sales of $395 million. However, $383 million in potential sales was waived and those jobs were available to the private sector.Bidwell said he did not want to discuss the pros and cons of the work program as it pertains to the national scope.However, in expressing a firm belief that the program does not impact the small business community, he said that such a program provides inmates the opportunity to become trained and educated and gives them the ability not to return to prison.“I think people are sent here as punishment, not for punishment,” Bidwell said.He said whatever an inmate earns, half goes to meet any financial obligations he may have. In addition, Bidwell said, “We make it mandatory that those in the program must get a general equivalency diploma.Bidwell said the GED hopefully will enable them to do better job and keep them from returning to prison.The FPI facility at the local prison is about 35,000 square feet. Gullespie said there is accountability of every piece of equipment, every tool that is involved in the daily work effort by the inmates.Quality assurance is an important part of the job, Gullespie said. He said there is a quality control team made up of 18 inmatesand every process is checked to make sure that only a quality product leaves the prison.The local prison also has a relatively new vocational training program in carpentry with about 20 inmates involved in this learning process.In addition to fulfilling government contracts and adding to a self-sustaining industry, FPI is making a local economic impact by purchasing a variety of merchandise from at least 42 businesses.How successful has the FPI program been nationally?Over the years, the program has returned more than $80 million to the U.S. Treasury.
Newspaper Details
Cumberland Times News
Cumberland, Maryland, US
Sat, Nov 16, 1996
Page 10
Full Page
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Anonymous
WV, USA 03 May 2020
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