To Prison Went Officials Eying Tax Savings

BRIDGETON – For 19 county and municipal employees, the 40-mile trip to South Woods State Prison Sept. 26 could translate lower costs for some goods.
The delegation to the DEPTCOR facility included Cape May County’s emergency management director and Avalon mayor, Ocean City’s and Avalon’s public works supervisors, county zoo director and others who buy signs, clothing, furniture and food for their entities.
Seldom do officials seek entry into the confines of a prison, but what the group observed was similar to a visit through an industrial city. Inmates at the South Woods facility produce butchered meat and poultry, and vegetables, men’s clothing, work boots, signs and printed material. Other DEPTCOR prison facilities produce office furniture, baked goods and even correctional facility-grade mattresses.
While the motoring public uses DEPTCOR’s top income producer, motor vehicle license plates, those are manufactured at Bayside State Prison, also in Cumberland County.
Leading the tour through the shops was Maj. William Varrell, administrative major, at South Woods. Donna Justis, administrative analyst II, procurement explained many facets of production as the group observed some of the prison’s 3,400 inmates working at occupations that, officials hope, will give them marketable skills when they complete their sentences.
South Woods opened in spring 1997, and is the state’s largest correctional facility. It houses all levels of inmates, from minimum to maximum security. Employed there are 1,000 staff members, 700 of them as custody personnel.
DEPTCOR and AgriIndustries offer inmates on-the-job training under the close supervision of skilled supervisors. They oversee the inmates instructing them on how to maintain top-quality products. When wake-up time arrives for many inmates at 6:00 a.m., it is part of the training that prepares them for “free world” industries. They learn the need to wake up and go to work. Officials believe by doing work, inmates develop a sense of responsibility toward a job, take pride in the work they do, and gain a feeling of self-worth, many for the first time in their lives.
DEPTCOR is part of the Bureau of State Use Industries, founded in 1918. It operates as a self-supporting revolving fund that assumes overall responsibility for product planning, production and delivery. Its stated mission is to “educate, train, and provide marketable skills to inmates while producing finished products that are top quality and cost effective.” It possesses a state contract number of 49131, which covers every line produced in its shops statewide.
According to Justis, any county, municipality, school district or organization that receives state funding is eligible to buy goods from DEPTCOR. “Sorry, non-profit organizations do not qualify,” Justis said.
In South Woods printing and graphics shop, between 20 and 30 inmates produce a wide variety of material from business cards and carbonless forms to letterheads and envelopes of all sizes. The shop produces newsletters and customized printing and bindery. The seven presses in the print shop are the same as those in any commercial print shop.
Two civilian staff members oversee the inmates, some using computers to produce logos and stylized lettering. An image setter allows customers to submit digital files instead of paper documents. That speeds delivery and reduces human error.
Every day, motorists pass South Woods sign shop products. Inmates produce a multitude of speed limit, directional, stop and other traffic control signs. Remember Smokey the Bear and forest fires? He stands large in the shop, and can be made into any size sign required.
Public works employees working along streets and highways are required to wear bright yellow vests, screen printing with names are done in the sign shop. When a new official is ready to take office, the shop can produce a nameplate for the person.
In the Clothing Shop, from 80-130 inmates labor stitching khaki pants and shirts, while others were making socks and heavy coats that inmates and others will wear to ward off the cold.
The shop supervisor noted the only fabric colors used are maroon, yellow, white and khaki. No blue cloth is used, since that is the color of corrections officers’ uniforms. She said when that color was last sewn, every item of every garment had to be accounted at the start and end of each day. That was to prevent an inmate from producing a bogus guard uniform.
Inmates in the shops generally earn between 28 and 58 cents an hour. Those with advanced skills in the clothing shop, for example, earn 88 cents per hour, and there are only two of them, thus competition is keen to attain that level of skill, the supervisor noted.
South Woods’ clothing shop prints garment tags and shipping labels for every other textile shop.
Inmate clothing made at South Woods is for males. Clothing for female inmates is made at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women, Clinton.
In the AgriIndustries shop, inmates clad in white uniforms, head and facial coverings worked slicing chicken and turkey, as well as preparing beef patties. Supervisor Terry Allen told the group that on any given day the inmates prepare all sorts of vegetables, fruit and meat for state-operated institutions, hospitals and veterans’ homes.
As the group watched, inmates chopped 450 pounds of Romaine lettuce. Once that was done, work would begin on preparing seafood cakes that waited in see-through boxes in the refrigerated work area.
Dr. Hubert Paluch, zoo director, was interested to learn what vegetables might be available for the animals. Receiving fruit and vegetables already cut up would save time for zookeepers, and could result in a reduced cost.
Martin Pagliughi, county emergency management director, was anxious to learn what food would be possible to receive from the facility should a hurricane or winter storm cause evacuation to shelters. He learned that a one-day advance notice was all that is required for preparation of such products. He was particularly interested in the meat products that include ground beef, meat loaf, poultry and pork products, as well as packaged, prepared salads, fruits and vegetables.
Allen noted that the AgriIndustries uses Jersey Fresh produce when available, since it is closer and often less expensive than other items. Use of Jersey Fresh produce is advocated by the state Department of Agriculture.
Most of the tour group seemed impressed with the goods that could be procured from South Woods. Catalogs were given to all so they could compare prices with others they get, and make decisions that could save money for the agencies, and therefore, the taxpayer.