Inmates tend to the Capitol, grounds

By Tierra Smith
Manship School News Service
BATON ROUGE – The Louisiana Statehouse is run by criminals – and they probably are not the folks who come to mind.
Every weekday, correctional officers transport some 40 Dixon Correctional Institution inmates the 30 miles from the Jackson facility to the Capitol building and grounds.
DCI inmates keep the Statehouse functioning, fed and looking fine.
They work in the dining hall, others clean Capitol bathrooms, hallways and offices, and more are found in adjoining state government buildings. Yet others look after the sprawling grounds and nearby Governor’s Mansion.
Correctional officers are never far away.
There is little danger, however. These inmates carry a Class A or minimum security classification. DCI also houses Class B (medium) and Class C (maximum security) inmates, but they are not allowed to leave the prison confines.
Tricia Bruno, spouse of co-owner of the Louisiana House Dining Hall, the cafeteria-like breakfast and lunch spot on the ground floor of the towering Capitol building, cuts to the chase: “The inmates keep the Capitol going.”
A few lawmakers are not impressed.
The inmates get the shortest end of the stick in the deal, says Rep. Marcus Hunter, who is working on legislation to help in the rehabilitation of inmates while not exploiting them. He wants to rework the system to allow the revenues obtained from inmate work to help pay off the inmates’ court fees and offset prison-housing fees.
“I want the money to go where it’s best needed,” says the Monroe Democrat.
Currently, fees from inmate use support Prison Enterprises, the 33-year-old moneymaking arm of the Department of Corrections, and private companies such as the Louisiana House Dining Hall.
The House Dining Hall uses about a half dozen inmates, who prep, cook, serve and clean up. (The cafeteria and short-order operation also has five non-inmate employees.) The inmates also work at the exclusive dining hall for House of Representative members and staff who enjoy sit-down table service.
Bruno said the inmates come ready to work and learn.
“We are teaching (them) a trade or skill,” said Bruno. “When they get out, they can get a job and have a career.”
Yet the inmates working at the two House restaurants comprise a small portion of the daily contingent of DCI workers. The remainder are placed by Prison Enterprises, Those inmates maintain the grounds and clean the Capitol.
Louisiana Prison Enterprise Director Michael Moore notes the benefits of using inmates, which he says provides inmates an eight-hour workday experience, saves the state money.
The Legislature pays Prison Enterprises for maintenance on the capitol grounds and for janitorial services.
Rep. Hunter says the third largest portion of the legislative expense budget goes for inmate services and housing they receive as part of their incarceration.
The state projects it will pay Prison Enterprise $158,000 this fiscal year for the Statehouse grounds maintenance. For the entire Capitol Park area ground works, which includes 16 buildings, the charge is $433,000.
There is also a bill close to $2 million for the janitorial cost of the entire Capitol grounds. For the Statehouse alone, it will cost $101,000.
Pam Laborde, spokesperson for the Department of Corrections, says Prison Enterprise annually saves the state approximately $2.8 million in janitorial services alone compared to contracting with the private sector or having its own personnel do the work.
The state may save money primarily because prisoners are paid a pittance for their services and receive no fringe benefits.
The highest paid inmate worker receives 40 cents an hour for their work, or $3.20 a day. No inmate is forced to work outside the prison, and most view it as being a more pleasant way to spend your day than being isolated at DCI.
Under Louisiana law, inmates who work with Prison Enterprise are paid between 20 cents to 40 cents an hour, depending on skill, industry and nature of work. Most DCI inmates also earn “good time” credits, which works on their behalf when they come up for probation.
Hunter, and other legislators who were asked, believe the last person benefiting from this system is the inmate.
Hunter wants to use the benefits and revenues made from inmate labor to offset prison housing and court fees. The money should first support the inmates, and the prison industry second, he said.
“Louisiana taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay for inmates’ housing,” said Hunter.
He wants the money to go towards housing, court cost and Crime Victims Reparation Fund. After that, the money could be used for education such as trade school or a GED.
Louisiana law states that slavery and involuntary servitude are prohibited except as a punishment of crime. Hunter has two ways to reroute revenues from inmate labor. He proposed, under HB186, currently pulled from consideration, a constitutional amendment to eliminate that exception.
The bill’s less restrictive option is to redefine the word punishment and create a statute that would allow the proceeds for inmates’ work to be used for inmate rehabilitation.
Hunter said there would be a “tremendous offset” in the money that the state pays to house the inmates for parish and private inmates.
He wants to provide inmates with a clean financial slate when they are released. In some cases, he says, inmates return to jail because they can’t pay their fees.
“This may affect the bottom life of some of the local prisons,” said Hunter, who has the Ouachita and Richwood correctional centers in his district.
Hunter believes this change is the “cornerstone” of the state’s criminal justice reform.
“We are going to cut health care and education, but there is little mention of cutting prisons,” he said. “This is a method that could help change that.”
Until then, the institution known as the Statehouse will continue to be run by the inmates.