The 1979 federal Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Program gave private industry the green light to put state and federal prison inmates to work.
For a variety of reasons, prison walls have managed to keep out the revolution that has created the high-tech industry. The tech work that does filter in tends to be low-end assembly, with prisoners often handling small computing and telecommunications components for small companies that deal with large corporations. Here's a selective list of tech-oriented prison work projects:
State: Texas.
Company: Labor-To-Industry (formerly Lockhardt Technologies), a subsidiary of USXX in Atlanta.
Product/service: Assembling circuit boards for use in devices including TV remote controls. computers, "tens units" that use electric shocks to restore heartbeat, and strobe lights for musical presentations.
Company clients: IBM, Motorola, Dell, Compaq, Texas Instruments.
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State: New Hampshire.
Company: GFS Manufacturing.
Product/service: Making output chokes, devices that conduct electricity in circuit boards and used for power-supply units for a range of gadgets: computers, telephone switching equipment, medical equipment, and avionics equipment.
Company clients: Texas Instruments, Honeywell, Hewlett-Packard, Siemens.
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State: South Dakota.
Company: MTRON.
Product/service: Assembling quartz crystals and hybrid oscillators for the OEM market. These can be used in computer boards, telephones, switching network systems, peripherals, modems, cable modems, and other telecommunications equipment.
Company clients: Nortel, Lucent Technologies, AT&T Wireless, Bay Networks, 3COM, IBM, Intel, Northern Telecom, Digital Switch, New Bridge Networks.
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State: Washington.
Company: Antipodes - a data communications company and value-added reseller.
Product/service: Assembling custom computer-interface cables, "passive electronic devices," fiber optics, and patch cables; also does equipment testing.
Company clients: Fortune 1000 companies and larger, including Microsoft and Boeing.
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State: Oregon.
Company: Yoshida Group.
Product/service: Garment construction of Prison Blues-brand jeans, T-shirts, and jackets.
Slogan: "Made on the inside to be worn on the outside."
Company clients: Worldwide retailers, including Nordstrom.
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State: Maryland.
Company: Carr Lowery.
Product/service: Reinspecting glass bottles and jars (for nail polish and other beauty products).
Company clients: Revlon, Pierre Cardin.
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State: South Carolina.
Company: Jostens.
Product/service: Graduation caps and gowns.
Company clients: Schools the world over.
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State: South Dakota.
Company: Vespers Inc.
Product/service: Cutting/silk-screening mousepads. Also building crates for CDs and shampoo/beauty product displays in fine salons.
Company clients: LCI in Minnesota (mousepads), Target Stores (CD racks), Graham Webb International (shampoo display stands).
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State: South Dakota.
Department: Education.
Product/service: Wiring schools to the Internet - setting up connection points in each classroom (as of 7 November, 44 districts have been wired by eight crews; translating into 24,000 out of 150,000 wired students in the state).
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State: Texas.
Department: Education (Texas Youth Commission).
Product/service: Refurbishing computers using parts from old ones.
Clients: Public schools.
State: Arizona.
Department: Arizona Department of Transportation.
Product/service: Data entry and entry of minor motor-vehicle citations for the department.
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State: New Hampshire.
Department: Police.
Product/service: Washing and reconditioning police cars.
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State: Virginia.
Company: Herman Miller.
Product/service: Assembling office furniture: desks, chairs, cubicles, partitions.
Clients: Businesses the world over.
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State: Arizona.
Company: Hickman's Egg Ranch.
Product/service: Eggs, meat. Labor for the egg operation, feed mill, and feed lot.
__Clients:__Not disclosed.
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__State:__Arizona.
Company: Nature's Partner.
Product/service: "Simulated natural features products" made of fiberglass reinforced polyester (faux aquarium rock).
Company clients: Not disclosed.
