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May 10, 2009
OH: Plans for prison labor at Capitol on hold
Plans for prison labor at Capitol on hold
Saturday, May 9, 2009 3:04 AM
By Alan Johnson
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Concerns from lawmakers and union leaders have prompted the Strickland administration to temporarily halt a plan to have prisoners do maintenance and grounds work at the Statehouse.
Andrea Carson, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said prisons Director Terry J. Collins "wants to slow down the process a bit."
The plan was for minimum-security, nonviolent inmates from the Pickaway Correctional Institution in Orient, Ohio, to work cleaning the Statehouse at night and doing outside work on the grounds during the day. Officials with the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board, the agency that oversees the Statehouse and grounds, were in discussion with the prison agency.
"We never had a date. We were just in the talking stages," Carson said. "We don't have a timetable."
The Capitol Square leaders saw prison labor as a chance to fill a gap cause by budget-driven cutbacks that reduced the workforce from 71 to 52, most of them members of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, the largest labor union representing state workers.
After the Capitol Square board approved the arrangement, complaints rolled in from union leaders and some lawmakers, including members of the Senate Finance & Financial Institutions Committee which is considering the agency's request to boost its budget by $300,000 over two years.
As a result, Collins ordered a reassessment, Carson said.
"We still think it's a good idea. The prisoners will be carefully screen. We feel safe with the inmates that we send outside the fence."
Minimum-security inmates frequently work at community-service projects across the state, including gardening at the Governor's Residence in Bexley.
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/05/09/STATEHOUSE_INMATES.ART_ART_05-09-09_B2_16DQEF5.html?sid=101
Posted by lois at May 10, 2009 02:20 PM