NCJ Number
127339
Journal
American Jails Volume: 4 Issue: 2 Dated: (July/August 1990) Pages: 80-81,83
Date Published
1990
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article presents a step-by-step outline for making management decisions regarding jail industries.
Abstract
When considering the decision as to whether or not to open a jail industry program, issues to be considered are availability of the required expertise, existence of custody requirements necessary for program success, the nature of the target product market, and the logistics of producing a particular product or services. Other issues are the jail commander's commitment to the program, the cost of opening the enterprise, a "joint venture" program with a State correctional industry, obtaining a suitable supervisor, and selection of the most cost-effective program. Cost factors that must be considered include the delivery of the product or service to the customer, product or service advertising, the need for a product catalog, sales staff, and customer services. One of the major problems in a jail industries program is the short confinement period for jail inmates. Training an inmate to the level necessary to operate a self-supporting program thus becomes difficult. Philadelphia prison industries has addressed this problem by using inmates sentenced to State prison for a longer period. This enables the jail industry to have a few selected inmates who stay in the jail a sufficiently long time to learn the skills required to operate an efficient program.