HB36 Summary

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

• Requires inmate participation to be voluntary and compensated at not less than prevailing wage for similar private sector work, with earnings paid directly to the department.

• Allows the department to withhold up to 40 percent of inmate gross earnings for confinement costs and court-ordered restitution, with remainder credited to inmate accounts.

• Prohibits the department from marketing products produced under these programs; private contractors must handle all marketing and sales of manufactured goods.

• Exempts rental or lease agreements for facilities from Alabama's competitive bidding laws and protects college-based prison education programs from prisoner reductions.