Walker bill would put inmates back to work in prisons

Inmates in Eagle River used to sew the yellow scrubs prisoners wear. On the Kenai Peninsula, prisoners made ergonomic furniture for state office buildings. In Juneau, inmates laundered linens for every state ferry. At one time, maximum-security inmates in Seward made wooden caskets.

Alaska's once-robust prisoner industries programs began to wither in the late 2000s and shut down around 2010, according to news reports. The state said they were no longer financially self-sustaining.

But inmates at Alaska prisons could go back to work if a bill introduced last week in the Legislature to restart the state's prison industries program becomes law.

With only a month left in the session for lawmakers, the legislation from Gov. Bill Walker is unlikely to move past a debate in committee. But it represents the biggest push yet to restart the prison industries program in the state, said Alaska Department of Corrections Commissioner Dean Williams.

Read more: https://www.adn.com/politics/alaska-legislature/2018/03/12/new-bill-would-put-inmates-back-to-work-in-alaska-prisons/