Agenda - 05-17-2005-7a - Laserfiche WebLink

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Attachment 2 REPORT PREPARED BY ORANGE COUNTY PUBLIC WORKS s August 10, 2000 North Carolina Department of Correction -The Governor's Community Work Program Purpose To provide a summary report on the use of inmate labor by Orange County under the North Carolina Department of Correction Community Work Program. Introduction The Community Work Program provides state and local governments with supervised minimum- security inmates for work projects, All work projects are performed at no cost to the requesting government agency resulting in the annual saving of thousands of taxpayer dollars in labor costs. Typically, the projects are short term in nature, completion within 5 to 10 days, and are not formalized into inmate labor contracts. However, local governments may enter into contracts with the N. C, Department of Correction to accommodate longer-term projects. Longer-term projects may include building and renovation projects, recreational park improvements, summer maintenance to school facilities, solid waste and recycling collections, community event preparations (Special Olympics and County/State Fairs), In addition to providing labor for government agencies, the program gives inmates an opportunity to develop a work ethic while integrating themselves back into the community by performing symbolic restitution; thus "paying their debt to society" for their wrongdoing. Also, the program provides the Department of Correction Center the opportunity to be good neighbors by sharing their labor force in their local communities, Program History Governor Jim Hunt established the Governor's Community Work Program (CPW) in 1994. According to Governor Hunt, "Prisoners should be performing the time consuming, labor-intensive jobs that communities have a hard time tackling." The program was piloted at the Greene Correctional Institute in Maury, North Carolina and is now available at 43 minimum-security prisons. The Director of Prisons designates the participating prisons, Presently, 150 work crews receive funding equating to mare than 2,000 prisoners working each day. The Orange County Correctional Center, which began participating in 1995, deploys one Community Work Program (CPW) crew and performs a total of more than 20,000 inmate hours annually. Program Operation Governmental agencies request work under the Community Work Program by contacting the minimum-security prison superintendent at their local area correctional center or the Division of Program Services Section in Raleigh. All work performed should be within a 35-mile radius of the prison correctional center, A staff person, designated by the prison superintendent, meets with the