With Jobs to Do, Louisiana Parish Turns to Inmates Adam Nossiter | The New York Times | July 05, 2006
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/usstatesterritoriesandpossessions/louisiana/index.html?inline=nyt-geo > At barbecues, ballgames and funerals, cotton gins, > service stations, the First Baptist Church, the pepper-sauce factory and the > local private school, the men in orange are everywhere. > > Many people here in East Carroll Parish, as Louisiana counties are known, > say they could not get by without their inmates, who make up more than 10 > percent of its population and most of its labor force. They are dirt-cheap, > sometimes free, always compliant, ever-ready and disposable. > > You just call up the sheriff, and presto, inmates are headed your way. "They > bring me warm bodies, 10 warm bodies in the morning," said Grady Brown, > owner of the Panola Pepper Corporation. "They do anything you ask them to > do." > > It is an ideal arrangement, many in this farming parish say. > > "You call them up, they drop them off, and they pick them up in the > afternoon," said Paul Chapple, owner of a service station. > > National prison experts say that only Louisiana allows citizens to use > inmate labor on such a widespread scale, under the supervision of local > sheriffs. The state has the nation's highest incarceration rate, and East > Carroll Parish, a forlorn jurisdiction of 8,700 people along the Mississippi > River in the remote northeastern corner of Louisiana, has one of the highest > rates in the state. > > As a result, it is here that the nation's culture of incarceration achieves > a kind of ultimate synthesis with the local economy. The prison system > converts a substantial segment of the population into a commodity that is in > desperately short supply cheap labor and local-jail inmates are > integrated into every aspect of economic and social life. > > The practice is both an odd vestige of the abusive convict-lease system that > began in the South around Reconstruction, and an outgrowth of Louisiana's > penchant for stuffing state inmates into parish jails far more than in any > other state. Nowhere else would sheriffs have so many inmates readily at > hand, creating a potent political tool come election time, and one that > keeps them popular in between. > > Sometimes the men get paid minimum wage, for instance, working for Mr. > Brown. But by the time the sheriff takes his cut, which includes board, > travel expenses and clothes, they wind up with considerably less than half > of that, inmates say. > > The rules are loose and give the sheriffs broad discretion. State law > dictates only which inmates may go out into the world (mostly those nearing > the end of their sentences) and how much the authorities get to keep of an > inmate's wages, rather than the type of work he can perform. There is little > in the state rules to limit the potential for a sheriff to use his inmate > flock to curry favor or to reap personal benefit. > > "If you talk to people around here, it is jokingly referred to as > rent-a-convict," said Michael Brewer, a lawyer and former public defender in > Alexandria, in central Louisiana. "There's something offensive about that. > It's almost like a form of slavery." > > That is not a view often expressed in East Carroll Parish. > > "I've been at cocktail parties where people laugh about it," said Jacques > Roy, another Alexandria lawyer. "People in Alexandria clamor for it. It's > cheaper. I've always envisioned it as a who-you-know kind of thing." > > The prisoners are not compelled to work, but several interviewed here said > they welcomed the chance to get out of the crowded jail, at least during the > day. Still, Mr. Brewer said, "if one of them were to refuse, you can imagine > the repercussions." > > Nearly half of Louisiana's prisoners are housed in small parish jails, a > policy that saves the state from building new prisons and is lucrative for > sheriffs, handsomely compensated for the privilege. > > "They're making a ton of money," said Burk Foster, former criminal-justice > professor at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette and author of the recent > textbook "Corrections." The sheriffs are paid $22.39 per prisoner per day > for accommodating their charges in facilities of often rudimentary > construction. > > The accommodations here appear to be made of no more than corrugated metal. > "Hey man, we're sleeping on the floor," an inmate called out from behind the > fence at the parish jail last week, before a visitor was shooed away by an > angry guard. > > Exactly how much the sheriffs pocket, however, is unclear. > > "Sheriffs deliberately obscure from the public how much money they're > making," said Mr. Foster, a leading expert on Louisiana prisons. > > A spokeswoman for the state corrections department said she could not > respond to the idea that sheriffs profited from housing state inmates. > > The sheriff here, Mark Shumate, did not reply to phone calls and messages, > but one of his investigators, Brandon Wiltcher, had an explanation for the > popularity and pervasiveness of inmate labor here. > > "It's just such a shortage of people who will work, or that can work," Mr. > Wiltcher said. > > This parish, the poorest in Louisiana, lost 20 percent of its free > population from 1980 to 2000. The inmate population, however, grew. > > Mr. Shumate is a very big man in these precincts of lush green corn, cotton > and soybean fields that stretch into a horizon shimmering in the heat. > Residents say his inmates cook hamburgers for community get togethers; they > are in the concession stand at children's baseball games; they dig graves, > mow roadsides and roof churches. > > "They are a constant fixture and presence, at each of these community > events," said Danny Terral, who works in his family's farm-supply business. > "I daresay I haven't been at a community event where it's not been, those > orange shirts." > > They build dugouts and tend the athletic fields free at Briarfield > Academy, a private school here. "They did an excellent job," said the > school's principal, Morris Richardson, adding, "We try to provide their > lunch for them." > > Mr. Wiltcher, of the sheriff's office, said there was nothing wrong with > helping out the private school without charge. > > "It's not only used at this private school, it's used parishwide," he said > of inmate labor. "Since it's used for everyone who needs it, I don't see > where there would be a problem with it." > > The churches, too, are grateful beneficiaries. "They sent me prisoners for a > month" for menial chores at the First Baptist Church, said Reynold Minsky, > also chairman of the local levee board. "All completely free," Mr. Minsky > added. "It's a real good deal. Everybody is tickled." > > Many here view the inmates essentially as commodities, who can be returned > behind bars after the agricultural season is over, and the need for labor is > reduced. > > "Good thing about it, wintertime, you can lock them up put them in cold > storage," said Billy Travis, a farmer and police juror, as county > commissioners here are known. "I call it deep freeze." > > Right on the main road into town, at the base of the levee, up from the > Economy Inn and the Scott Tractor Company, the quasi-employment agency > behind concertina wire is neither out of sight nor out of mind. At midday, > passing motorists can spot its residents, out for a brief exercise spell. > "They got D.O.C. mixed in with parish prisoners," another inmate complained, > referring to the State Department of Corrections inmates who mingle freely > with those who have committed lesser local crimes. > > At Lake Providence Country Club one afternoon last week, during a Rotary > Club meeting, the talk was of organizing a midsummer fish fry. "I imagine > the sheriff can do that," one man called out. "I hear the sheriff does a > really good job," another said. > > Outside the worn little town, a succession of empty storefronts and others > headed that way, inmates can be spotted clearing up the remains of a ruined > church off a hot country road, while a deputy lounges in the shade; picking > up trash; and clearing undergrowth from roadsides with heavy equipment. > > Up the road, toward the Arkansas line, a half-dozen or so are at work in the > stifling production-line room of the small pepper-sauce plant, sweating > alongside the free laborers. Another is fixing up a house next door that Mr. > Brown bought to rent out. > > The factory owner sings his praises, calling him reliable, trustworthy, > honest. The inmate, Roy Hebert he says he is in for forgery beams. "Mr. > Brown, he takes care of me," Mr. Hebert said. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Something is new at Yahoo! Groups. 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