On select weekends, inmates leave their cells to work on campus for the University’s Landscape Services in return for a meal and freedom from the confines of prison gates.
Landscape Services has used inmate labor since 1997, said Tammy Millican, assistant director for Facility Services. The program adopted was the result of a search for innovative ways to reduce costs. Today, inmates continue to help maintain more than 1,000 acres of land for Landscape Services.
Safety is of utmost concern when managing inmates, Millican said. They work in groups of 10 or fewer and are supervised by a correctional officer and a Landscape Services official. Work is usually on weekends and delegated to areas on the edge of campus.
Millican said there have been no behavioral incidents.
Darryl Campbell, executive management officer for Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, said offenders, before being selected for labor, are screened based on the length of their sentence, the crime they committed and their behavior while incarcerated. Screening is the same whether the labor will take place on a college campus or elsewhere. Inmates are “shaken down” before entering the area where labor is to occur, Campbell said, though “misconduct is always possible,” in spite of safety measures.
One student wasn’t concerned about the inmate’s presence on campus.
“I would say it’s safe as long as the offenders are non-violent,” said Andrew Ayres, business freshman.
Campbell said offenders who committed crimes of sex or violence are not eligible for labor outside the confines of prison.
Inmate labor on campus benefits the University and the inmates, Millican said. Contracts with Dixon Correctional Institute in Jackson, La., and Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel, La., provide transportation of the inmates and pay to the correctional officers. Inmates are not directly paid by the University, but are given a meal during each shift.
Millican said inmate labor provides 28,000 man hours per year and adds the equivalent of 14 employees to Landscape Services, performing duties such as mulching, edging, planting, irrigation and cleaning streets after football games. Inmates were also involved in performing preparation and recovery for Hurricane Katrina.
“The program provides a great resource at a minimal cost,” Millican said.
Through labor on campus, inmates learn “job skills” they can use when their sentence is complete, Millican said.
Campbell said the “opportunity to leave and get out” helps with behavior during incarceration. Prisoners who seek this opportunity have an incentive to behave because those with good behavior are given priority in the screening process.