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| All state prisoners get wage cut |
| By Journal Sentinel |
| Published: 12/15/2003 |
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Thousands of people are seeing their state paychecks slashed by as much as 46%. But they're not state employees, and they're not in for much sympathy. They're prison inmates. And they get paid not only for work but for taking courses or participating in programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous. The nearly $7 million a year in inmate wages, at rates of less than 50 cents an hour, results in safer prisons and a lower chance that inmates will commit crimes after being released, according to the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. "You've got another taxpayer rather than another offender," said Monte Mabra, an inmate at the Racine Correctional Institution. But some state lawmakers, even those who support pay for work, are blasting the Department of Corrections for continuing to pay inmates to be educated or get treatment for drug addictions. Paying inmates to participate in schooling or programs began to draw the ire of state lawmakers in March, after the Legislative Fiscal Bureau reported that the state was spending $1.65 million a year on such wages. "Why on Earth should taxpayers have to pay millions of dollars to inmates to attend educational courses and (substance abuse) treatment programs, which are provided to them free in the first place?" state Rep. Scott Suder (R-Abbotsford) said at the time, calling it a "fleecing" of the taxpayers. "It simply boggles the mind and is an outrage to every taxpayer in this state." By May, the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee had removed $1.65 million from the 2003-'05 budget for the Department of Corrections. The cut became law after the budget was signed in July. The intent of the Legislature in cutting the $1.65 million was clear, said Darling, one of the Joint Finance Committee members who voted for the cut. But the reduction in funding did not require the Department of Corrections to eliminate inmate wages for schooling and programs. Instead, the department spread the $1.65 million cut among wages for all inmates, the majority of whom get paid for doing jobs such as food service and maintenance in the prisons. The result was that, effective Nov. 1, inmates' pay for schooling and programs dropped 46%, from 28 cents to 15 cents an hour. The inmates who do prison work, meanwhile, saw their pay reduced 11% to 29%, to 12 to 42 cents an hour. |
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