SB 302 Summary

• Authorizes the Department of Corrections Commissioner to contract with private individuals, enterprises, partnerships, or corporations to establish work-oriented rehabilitation programs and joint manufacturing ventures within prison facilities on state-owned or operated property.

• Requires inmate participation in programs to be voluntary and limits programs to those involving inmate labor for manufacturing articles or providing services in facilities furnished by the department or private parties.

• Mandates that participating inmates earn not less than the prevailing wage for similar work in the private sector, with earnings paid directly to the department and withheld costs not exceeding 40 percent of gross earnings for confinement expenses and court-ordered restitution.

• Specifies that participating inmates are not state employees and are not entitled to employee benefits, and requires all products to be marketed exclusively by private contractors, not by the department.

• Exempts rental and lease agreements for facilities from competitive bidding requirements and provides that the program shall not reduce prisoner participation in existing two-year college training and work programs.