| Edwin Meese III (see
bio below)
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Behind the barbed-wire fence surrounding the Federal Correctional Institution at Elkton, Ohio, inmates sit at a long table stripping down old computers, salvaging valuable bits of gold and platinum. In another room prisoners clad in protective suits hammer away at monitor screens and cathode tubes, the smashed glass destined for sale to reprocessors. Computer recycling is difficult, labor-intensive work—exactly the type now being exported to China and other bastions of cheap labor. But Elkton gets business from government agencies and schools precisely because it can compete with Third World wages. In fact, other state and federal prisons have also gone into business, making products for companies such as Home Depot and Lowe's.
Why the sudden interest? The U.S. prison population has reached 2.1 million, up from just 300,000 20 years ago. Cash-strapped state governments are struggling both to cover the annual cost of incarceration, which has swelled over that time from $3 billion to $40 billion, and to find enough work to keep all those prisoners occupied.
Prominent conservatives have been encouraging prisons to put inmates to work for years. Led by Edwin Meese, the former U.S. Attorney General and head of the Heritage Foundation, and Morgan Reynolds, one of the first President Bush's economic advisors, they have lobbied for real prison employment by the private sector—not just make-work projects like stamping license plates or building courthouse furniture. The benefits are difficult to ignore: Businesses get cheap, reliable workers; inmates receive valuable job training and earn more than they would in traditional prison jobs; and the government offsets the cost of incarceration and keeps jobs and tax dollars in the U.S.
Corporate America has started to pay attention. The number of inmates employed by the private sector is still relatively small: 10,000 prisoners working for about 250 companies. But that is up significantly from the mere handful just ten years ago. Meese estimates that companies could easily employ ten to 20 times as many inmate workers.
While some companies have embraced prison labor, many have been reluctant to do so. Recently, for example, Dell abruptly canceled its contract with Federal Prison Industries (Unicor) [see below], which operates Elkton and six other computer-recycling facilities. The decision came just days after the national media reported on an environmental group's charge that the prison operation was a "poor example of worker health and safety." (Larry Novicky, the head of Unicor's recycling program, insists that all facilities meet federal standards.)
Dell's experience is typical of the conflicting attitudes entrepreneurs—and society—have had toward prison labor since Jeremy Bentham first proposed, more than 200 years ago, that work could rehabilitate prisoners. Yes, there are benefits, but there is also what Knut Rostad, Meese's colleague at the Enterprise Prison Institute, calls the "icky" factor—the specter of poor working conditions and chain-gang abuses. "In many ways," says Rostad, "it is still easier for a company to go to Mexico or China than to a prison in its own backyard."
Despite Dell's retreat, a number of FORTUNE 500 companies have purchased prison-made goods. And for certain businesses—those that use manual labor but don't make enough goods to support factories offshore—using inmate workers is particularly attractive. Take Anderson Hardwood Floors. Since it entered South Carolina's Tyger River Correctional Institution in 1996, the company has been able to introduce labor-intensive, handcrafted wood floors that would be prohibitively expensive to make outside the prison fence. "When the doors close behind you the first time, it's a bit unnerving," says CEO Don Finkell. "But it doesn't take too long to see that it's just like working on the outside."
source: http://www.fortune.com/fortune/articles/0,15114,481198,00.html 8sep03
It is the mission of Federal Prison Industries, Inc. to employ and provide skills training to the greatest practicable number of inmates confined within the Federal Bureau of Prisons; contribute to the safety and security of our Nation's correctional facilities by keeping inmates constructively occupied; produce market-price quality goods for sale to the Federal Government; operate in a self-sustaining manner; and minimize FPI's impact on private business and labor.
source: http://www.unicor.gov/about/index.htm 8sep03
FY Sales Ceiling for Dorm and Quarters Furniture
This notice announces the decision by the Board of Directors for Federal Prison Industries, Inc. (FPI) to adjust downward the FY 2002 sales ceiling for FPI's production of dorm and quarters furniture.
FPI’s FY 2002 sales ceiling originally was $29 million. The decision by FPI’s Board lowers the sales ceiling to $27,655,541. This downward adjustment was made to balance a small (5 percent) overage in FPI's sales of dorm and quarters furniture during FY 2001.
Interested parties have a right to raise questions at any time with FPI's Board of Directors. Any correspondence should be addressed to: Chief Administrative Officer, Research, Activation and Corporate Support, Federal Prison Industries, Inc., 320 First Street, NW, Washington, DC 20534. Attention: FPI Board of Directors.
source: http://www.unicor.gov/about/noticedandqceiling.htm 8sep03
FY 2003 Sales Ceilings
The Board of Directors for Federal Prison Industries, Inc. (FPI) recently authorized FY 2003 production levels for seven products: Systems Furniture, Office Seating, Office Case Goods, Work Clothing, Protective Clothing, Sweatshirts/Sweatpants and T-Shirts.
The FY 2003 sales ceiling for each of the seven products is based on their FY 2002 production ceilings previously set by FPI's Board of Directors. Specifically, the Board took the FY 2002 sales ceilings, and adjusted each for inflation. The inflation adjustment for FY 2003 is 3%. This adjustment is consistent with FPI's guidelines and with previous Board actions. The FY 2002 and FY 2003 sales ceilings for each product line are:
Systems Furniture: FY 2002 - $137.9 million; FY 2003 - $142.1 million;
Office Seating: FY 2002 - $113.3 million; FY 2003 - $116.7 million;
Office Case Goods: FY 2002 - $72.1 million; FY 2003 - $74.3 million;
Work Clothing: FY 2002 - $44.6 million; FY 2003 - $45.9 million;
Protective Clothing: FY 2002 - $60.0 million; FY 2003 - $61.8 million;
Sweatshirts/Sweatpants: FY 2002 - $15.1 million; FY 2003 - $15.6 million; and
T-Shirts: FY 2002 - $14.7 million; FY 2003 - $15.1 million.
FPI believes these FY 2003 sales ceilings will allow the corporation to meet its inmate employment mandate by adjusting its sales to keep pace with rising costs, while not increasing its impact on private industry.
As discussed in FPI's industry involvement guidelines, any interested party has a right to raise a question at any time with FPI's Board of Directors. All comments should be addressed to: Chief Administrative Officer, Research, Activation and Corporate Support Branch, Federal Prison Industries, Inc., 320 First Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20534.
source: http://www.unicor.gov/about/noticeceiling03.htm 8sep03
Kenneth R. Rocks, Chairman
(Represents Labor)
1336 Spring Garden Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19123
Phone (215) 629-3626
David D. Spears, Vice-Chairman
(Represents Agriculture)
2627 KFB Plaza
Manhattan, Kansas 66503
Paul R. Corts, Member
(Represents the Attorney General)
US Department of Justice
Justice Management Division
950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Room 1111
Washington, DC 20530
Donald R. Elliott, Member
(Represents Industry)
1660 Indian Wood Circle
Maumee, Ohio 43537
Diane K. Morales, Member
(Represents Defense)
3500 Defense Pentagon
Room 3E808
Washington, DC 20301-3500
Audrey J. Roberts, Member
(Represents Retailers and Consumers)
Post Office Box 14
Martin, Tennessee 38237
source: http://www.unicor.gov/about/bodadd.htm 8sep03
Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow in Public Policy, The Heritage Foundation
Areas of expertise: police, criminal and constitutional law, procedure, the presidency, national security
Summary: Former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese was among President Ronald Reagan’s most important advisors. As Chairman of the Domestic Policy Council and the National Drug Policy Board, and as a member of the National Security Council, he played a key role in the development and execution of domestic and foreign policy. During the 1970s, Mr. Meese was Director of the Center for Criminal Justice Policy and Management and Professor of Law at the University of San Diego. He earlier served as Chief of Staff for then-Governor Reagan and was a local prosecutor in California. Mr. Meese is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Institute of United States Studies, University of London. He earned his B.A. from Yale University and his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley
source: http://www.heritage.org/About/Staff/EdwinMeese.cfm 8sep03
*********************
Edwin Meese
Edwin Meese is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. He served as the seventy-fifth attorney general of the United States from February 1985 to August 1988. Meese is an expert on the U.S. legal system, law enforcement and criminal justice, intelligence and national security, and the Reagan presidency. His current research focuses on the criminal justice system, federalism, emergency response management, and terrorism.
His memoirs were published in the 1992 volume With Reagan: The Inside Story (Regnery Gateway Publishers).
Meese is also a distinguished fellow and holder of the Ronald Reagan Chair in Public Policy at the Heritage Foundation; a member of the Board of Regents of the National College of District Attorney; distinguished senior fellow, Institute for United States Studies, University of London; and a member of the boards of directors of both the Capital Research Center and the Landmark Legal Foundation.
Before serving as U.S. attorney general, he was counselor to the president from 1981 to 1985. In this capacity he functioned as the presidents chief policy adviser and had management responsibility for the administration of the cabinet, policy development, and planning and evaluation. During the time he held both these positions, Meese was a member of the presidents cabinet and the National Security Council.
Meese headed the president-elects transition effort following the November 1980 election. During the presidential campaign, he served as chief of staff and senior issues adviser for the Reagan-Bush committee.
Formerly, he served as Governor Reagan's executive assistant and chief of staff in California from 1969 through 1974 and as legal affairs secretary from 1967 through 1968. Before joining Governor Reagan's staff in 1967, Meese served as deputy district attorney of Alameda County, California.
From 1977 to 1981, Meese was a professor of law at the University of San Diego, where he was also director of the Center for Criminal Justice Policy and Management.
In addition to his background as a lawyer, educator, and policy official, Meese has been a business executive in the aerospace and transportation industry. From January 1975 to May 1976, he served as vice president for administration of Rohr Industries in Chula Vista, California. He left Rohr to enter private law practice in San Diego County.
He is active in numerous civic and educational organizations and was appointed by President Reagan to the Board of Visitors of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Meese is a graduate of Yale University (1953) and holds a law degree from the University of California at Berkeley.
(1997)
source: http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/bios/meese.html 8sep03
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