Welcome - PIECP Program Violations Web Site

This Website provides visitors with information pertaining to Prison Labor and in particular to the operation of the federal Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Program (PIE Program). The PIE program allows a relaxation of federal statutes governing the manufacture, sales and distribution of prisoner made products and services by state Prison Industries.

For a better understanding of this program, please click on "PIECP Program" link on the left.

If you have a friend or loved one currently incarcerated in a state prison and they are assigned to work in or for the prison industry at their facility, please keep us in mind. We have much documentation from Florida and Arizona, but we need information out of other state prison industries.

We can't help...if we don't know how or who to help...

 July 21, 2010 - Well it is now a fact that inmates are being used to clean up the worst oil spill in history along the Gulf Coast of the US. In the article "BP Hires Prison Labor to Clean Up Spill While Coastal Residents Struggle" found at: http://www.thenation.com/article/37828/bp-hires-prison-labor-clean-spill-while-coastal-residents-struggle?page=full. Not only is BP using inmate labor for the clean up, they are receiving tax benefits and a reimbursement of up to 40% of all wages paid to these incarcerated men and women in Louisiana. While private citizens who have become unemployed due to the recent oil spill - as well as those who remain without jobs long after Katrina devastated the same coastal region - are trying to find employment, BP and other Corporate entities and governmental agencies and departments ignore their plight by implementing a procedure whereby they can utilize inmates instead of hiring the local unemployed to work on clean up activities. Not just substitute inmate labor for private sector labor, but to do it in such a way that federal tax dollars will compensate them for using inmates! Free - or nearly free - labor up front and tax breaks of $2,400.00 per inmate employed by BP after. Have we forgotten the anger and frustration demonstrated by the citizens of the Gulf Coast states when Haliburton and the federal government trucked in workers after Katrina instead of hiring those displaced and unemployed workers and residents who wanted the work following the hurricane?

At some point the American worker must awaken and realize the threats to their jobs are not from Corporations moving operations "offshore" to India, Mexico or other countries. No, the threat to their jobs and income are right here at home and come from Corporations using inmate labor to replace private jobs. They get labor on the cheap, free leasing of facilities and tax breaks from participating states and the federal government for hiring inmates - while they are still in prison! Oh sure, they make statements about reducing "idleness in prison" and "teaching work skills to inmates to make them more employable upon release" as justification for moving their operations behind prison fences and walls and eliminating private sector jobs by that move. But those claims are merely standard rhetoric that has the same impact and results in the same outcome upon the public as false claims made by prison and Legislative officials that unless more tax dollars are used to fund the building of more prisons, hardened rapists, murders and sexual predators will have to be released from prison back into their communities.

It is not just Louisiana that is using inmates in clean up work on the beaches. Florida's DOC issued orders to use their inmates in preventing beach protection preparations and oil cleanup efforts: http://www.examiner.com/x-29847-Toronto-Romantic-Getaway-Examiner~y2010m5d6-Florida-prison-inmates-on-standby-for-beach-cleanup--oil-spill-update. Inmates have been seen along other parts of the Gulf Coast sttates participating in the clean up operations. With the number of unemployed workers in the Gulf Coast region, clean up work could provide them with valuable employment and income. BP set aside $20 Billion for clean up efforts and income losses from the spill and that's a lot of damn money. With that available, how in the world are inmates being used and the unemployed being ignored? They're being ignored in favor of saving money by BP and earning tax credits by using prisoners. That's the bottom line.

The standard statements mentioned above and issued time and again by both private sector Corporations, prison officials and our state and federal Legislative members are designed to instill fear into the public to gain their support for the building of more and more prisons and in the case of inmate labor, the statements are made to cause the public to believe the inmates must be kept busy in order to maintain order inside the prisons; the inmates must be used to manufacture products and provide services so they will learn technology and skills necessary for them to return to their communities and be able to quickly obtain employment and avoid committing more criminal acts, causing a return to prison.  Problem is it is simply more rhetoric. Inmates are well controlled behind prison fences. Every moment of every day they are under strict control and disciplined for any infraction, no matter how slight. This was done through discipline designed specifically for that purpose. In the '90's a federal program that had been created in 1979 by the US Congress became a vehicle to increased profits by private corporations. This is the Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP). This important program authorized the use of inmate labor for training purposes and allowed partnerships with the private sector manufacturers for such training. The program guidelines were established in such a manner to make competition between prison industries and private manufacturers equal. A genuinely good concept but one however, that contained several loop holes that not only create an unequal playing field, but allowed the sale of prisoner made goods to anyone anywhere.

In  the instant situation involving BP the article provided above provides us with information that in some cases the inmates are not being paid at all by BP. Instead the inmates are assigned to these work details and if they refuse, they lose gain time (resulting in longer stays in prison on your tax dollar) and can be sent back to prison from their work or work release centers. Who are the beneficiaries of these actions? The inmates? The unemployed workers in the Gulf Coast region? No, the benefit goes to BP - the creator of the situation. And it goes to them with the well wishes of state and federal authorities who are "benefiting" by BP paying them to allow the use of "their" inmates.

Anyone else think it's time to put an end to private sector job losses and governmental complicity in allowing the losses to continue? Anyone else believe it's time to put and end to our governments allowing Corporations to control operations and make a profit following such disasters as Katrina and Event Horizon? I believe it is time to put our people to work instead of inmates. The money is there, the desire of the unemployed to work is there and the authority to make it happen is there. All that needs be done is to get the Obama Administration to put their foot down and do it. Jobs, lives and simply the ability to survive both the disaster and unemployment depend upon such actions.

March 17, 2010 - Uploaded a new file to the PIECP Site File page - "PIE Article March 2010 Cover Story.doc"" This article was written by Bob Sloan and published in PLN's March 2010 issue. The article goes into great detail about PIECP, participants in the program, abuses within the program and identifies what needs to happen to bring this important program into compliance with Federal laws authorizing PIECP. In the PLN issue there is a companion article on prisoner labor being used to replace private sector workers in city, county and state municipalities and departments to save money for those agencies.

March 12, 2010 - Corrections Concepts, Inc. is still at it working on Wakita, Ok. to assist them in urging the OK. DOC and state authorities to authorize the building of the nation's first "all Christian" prison. As indicated below, we do not sponsor this project. We're not against Christianity or the Christian faith---we are against the comingling of faith based religious concepts with the operations of state prison facilities.

Since Corrections Concepts and it's founder, Bill Robinson contacted Texas Governor George W. Bush in 1995 with the concept of Christian prisons a lot of detractors spoke up against the suggestion. Under Governor Bush the separation of Church and State began to narrow considerably. Because of Bush's faith based offices in government, that gap has become almost non-existent.

Prisons are a social necessity brought about by the breaking of social or community laws by members of that society or community. Prisons were necessary to house those offenders that required a separation from the community for rehabilitation or until they could safely be reintroduced back into their communities. When a society has rules and laws, they have to have a means of enforcement and a way to discipline or punish offenders. The society or community bore the expense and responsibility for building and maintaing a facility to house these offenders. It was a cost borne by that community or society - as I said out of necessity.

That was the concept until two or so decades ago when private investors decided to exploit prisons. They discovered that prisons were here to stay and saw a way of making huge sums of money from operating those prisons if they could get the states to allow privatization. Enter Whackenhut (now Geo Group), Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), Cornell Corrections and others in the 1980's. George Bush and Bill Robinson joined the privatization bandwagon in 1995. Their idea was to merge religion, prisons and prison industry into one cohesive unit where inmates would be worked in a prison industry, working for minimum wage to produce products for the corporation that could be sold competitively on the open markets to consumers. By using cheaper labor behind prison fences they believed they could realize greater profits from their products. At the same time religious believers could "minister" Christian beliefs and concepts to these wayward felons to turn them into law abiding citizens upon release. One hope was that the spread of Christianity could be helped along by converting such offenders while in prison.

I won't go into the arguments about how the inmates will be chosen or which religious faiths will be accepted at Mr. Robinson's prison...or what faith the Christian "Counselor's" and "staff" will be associated with. The simple fact that it is "Christian" based...not Muslim, Jewish, Lutheran, Buddhist, etc., seem to indicate a theme. Mr. Robinson will no doubt point out that Christian in his mind encompasses all faiths and all will be welcome in his prison. Of course they will, Mr. Robinson...they'll all make money for your prison, whether they're Christian or not.

Some of our research found that Corrections Concepts Inc. was founded by Mr. Robinson with the assistance of Dr. James T. Draper, former President of the Southern Baptist Lifeway Christian Ministries. Dr. Draper is a devout Evangelical Conservative. In addition others of notable mention included: Dan Quayle, former VP, Charles Colson, Colby May, Ken Armbrister (former Tx. Senator) and Dick Armey (Former U.S. Congressman). There are other supporters and contributors of CCI and the Heritage House Reintegration facility and some of those same individuals also invested in and supported the likes of U.S. Technologies, Inc.m a Delaware Corporation doing business in Lockhart, Texas during the Bush years. The company utilized inmate labor to manufacture parts and products for private sector manufacturers and buyers. They placed huge factories inside prisons for the specific purposes of using inmate labor to realize a huge profit margin for the investors. Check out U.S. Technologies, Inc. and their wholly owned subsidiary, UST that did business for years in Texas with Whackenhut, CCA and others under Governor's Bush. In the early 2000's U.S. Technologies was dissolved due to the corruption and graft of it's Chairman who bilked investers out of more than $13 million dollars.

Why would such notable people provide financial and personal support of companies like CCI and UST? The money, of course. Investors stood to make millions through UST and it failed due to the greed of one individual. Now we have CCI - who has pushed for this Christian prison program for more than 15 years now - trying in vain to get the governments of at least one state to allow them to build and operate their facility. Texas declined to authorize the building of this prison concept and so has other states for more than a decade now. Every municipality approached by Mr. Robinson has declined his program after reviewing his prospectus and researching the issues. Now it's up to Wakita, Ok. and the Oklahoma Legislative bodies to do the same and preserve a distinct line between church and state. Oklahoma needs to keep their prisons state run and operated...a responsibility that comes with incarceration.

November 4, 2009 - Corrections Concepts, Inc., a Dallas based non-profit is working to get Wakita, Oklahoma to sponsor the building of a new private prison. The facility would be the first all Christian prison in the U.S. Volunteering inmates would be supervised by Christian guards, and staffers. In addition, the inmates would work at the facility in a prison industry under the federal PIECP program. However, Corrections Concepts intends to not abide by the PIECP mandatory requirements of paying inmate workers in the program prevailing wages - instead choosing to pay them federal minimum wages - for their labor.

This avoidance of paying prevailing wages was first presented by Corrections Concepts founder, Bill Robinson to Texas Governor Bush in 1995 when Bush's support was sought. Bush so liked the idea of combining faith-based community initiatives with prison industries for prison inmates, he authored Resolutions there in Texas making it easier for such initiative programs to get state tax dollars for their operations. Once in the White House, Bush brought the concept with him, establishing White House Offices of Faith-Based Community Initiative satellite offices in every Federal Department and Agency including the Department of Justice that oversees the PIECP program. Bush did this by Executive Orders within days of taking office in 2000.

PIECP-Violations opposes the building of such a "Christian" prison in Wakita, Oklahoma - not on religious grounds, rather due to the stated intention of not abiding by the federal PIECP requirements regarding the planned prison industries. Too many prison industries and their private sector partners are already taking advantage of this important program, by not paying prevailing wages to the inmate workers. This allows for more corporate and prison industry profits at the expense of the work force. In addition it provides these violators with an unfair advantage over private sector companies who manufacture the same or similar products on the open markets. The PIE Program allows prison industries to sell and distribute prisoner made goods upon the same markets as private sector manufacturers and to openly compete for private sector market shares for those products. The prison industries are already disadvantaging the private sector competitors by giving their "partners" leases of huge prison facilities for $1.00 a year, no health insurance, no workers unemployment premiums, no paid vacations or other perks the private sector competing companies must provide to their employees. This results in the loss of private sector jobs to those citizens in desperate need of keeping their jobs, by transferring those jobs behind prison fences and walls and giving them to inmates.

Currently - as stated elsewhere on this site - there is a serious lack of actual, effective oversight of PIECP operations nationwide. The Bureau of Justice Assistance has outsourced this oversight to a private non-profit "Association" - the National Correctional Industries Association (NCIA). There can be no real oversight or compliance with the PIE Program's rules and laws while an Association made up of the prison administrators, managers and vendors involved in the program oversee themselves. The NCIA is made up of just that - vendors to, administrators, managers and employees of the participating PIECP industries operated in each state.

The residents and citizens of Wakita, Oklahoma should review the PIECP Guidelines and ask pointed and specific questions of Corrections Concepts, Inc. about the proposed Prison Industry they plan on opening at the prison complex. These residents should know what the program is about and whether or not the prison industry will result in the loss of private sector jobs or unfairly compete with local Oklahoma Private Sector manufacturers of similar products. This must be done to protect Oklahoma jobs from disappearing behind the prison fences.

October 29, 2009 - Jury in the Enoch Hall murder trial have voted 12-0 to impose the death penalty for the first degree murder of FDOC Officer, Donna Fitzgerald. Sentencing is set for December 7, 2009.

Please be sure to sign our Guest Book before you leave!

I'm Bob Sloan and I live and work in Indianapolis, Indiana. I'm an ex offender who was once imprisoned in Florida. I earned an AA degree in drafting and architecture before going to work in the Prison Industries operated by PRIDE of Florida. While with PRIDE I was fortunate enough to gain several Certificates in Management, Drafting, CADD operations, Design and Layout, etc.

My wife Jean, is a part of the ongoing prison reform and PIECP activism and advocacy we both represent. She attended demonstrations at the State Capital in Tallahassee in 2003 as a representative and member of the Florida LOLITS (Lil' Ol Ladies In Tennis Shoes) Advocacy Group. On our behalf Jean  attended the first Public Hearing by the "Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons" held in Tampa, Florida on August 19-20, 2006. We both attended the Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing on PRIDE and the FDOC in January 2008

I have been back to Florida on several Occasions to attend and give presentations at PRIDE Board Meetings. My attendance is due to an ongoing concern about prison labor issues and PIECP program violations, in particular. I presented issues and documentation to the Board about PIECP violations by their industries and encouraged them to bring all industries into compliance with the  1999 PIECP Guidelines. To date we have made headway but there's still much work to be done.

Under the tenure of the previous Secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC), James McDonough, I worked closely with he and his office in an attempt to insist upon PRIDE returning to their Mission Statement of Inmate training and job placement upon release. In addition we worked to implement new industry training programs and I authored a re-entry/Industry program which was presented to McDonough and then Governor, Jeb Bush (with the support of Indiana Senator, Richard Lugar, the same program was recently sent to the Federal Prison Authority for consideration at the national level).

Presently we've had a few email conversations with the new FDOC Secretary, Walter McNeil about PRIDE issues (the Secretary holds a permanent seat upon the PRIDE Board of Directors). He has looked into several issues we've presented him with. However, PRIDE was to return the PIECP Certificate to the possession of the DOC so that agency would have greater oversight of the prison industries and Secretary McNeil recently advised PRIDE to keep the Certificate as he does not have the staff or resources necessary to take over the Certificate and oversight. This was a blow to our mission, but work continues on this issue.