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Clocking in: Some Oklahoma prisoners are plying a trade behind bars

Daily Oklahoman - 3/4/2018

March 04--HOMINY -- The men making beans and cornbread waited for the men making state license plates.

"Don't forget the tip," one of them said, ladling applesauce onto a tray while other men milled around the lunch line.

He wouldn't get one, but just a dollar would double the two quarters an hour he hustles for. Even here, in a workplace surrounded by razor wire and steel reminders of a life sentence, a man can take pride in his work.

The men are inmates at Dick Conner Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison in northeastern Oklahoma. Each day, patrons dressed in similar prison garb pass under a banner that reads "The Best Work Here" and file into a machine shop that buzzes like a small factory on the outside.

"It's a place in my life where I feel like I'm in total control of my life," another inmate said. "It's real important to us. We don't take it for granted."

Revenue generator

The inmates work for Oklahoma Correctional Industries, which operates under the Corrections Department, but doesn't rely on state appropriations. OCI has 22 operations in 10 locations across Oklahoma, and generates revenues up to $20 million annually.

About 1,300 inmates work for OCI each business day. They manufacture more than 8,000 products, mainly from raw material.

Under state law, the items they make, such as desks, benches, school lockers and other products Oklahomans use every day, can be sold only to specific, tax-supported state and federal agencies and others that qualify.

Dick Conner Correctional Facility is the flagship production facility.

"It's the backbone for all of our operations," said Justin Farris, director of OCI.

The backbone just got a little stronger. OCI recently purchased a press brake and a plasma cutter, retailed at about $250,000 and $100,000 respectively.

The equipment makes for improved efficiency and higher output, but Farris said a major advantage is the hands-on experience inmates gain while working with the high-end machinery at Dick Conner.

"By the time they finish here, they are a true metal fabricator," Farris said.

Willingness to work

Inmates apply for the work and are vetted by the warden. In addition to looking at their history of behavior and any gang ties, the warden screens inmates for work history in prison.

Warden Janet Dowling said a qualifying inmate is "someone who's looking at turning their life in the right direction."

That begins with a willingness to start work at 6 a.m., stand on their feet all day and deal with co-workers and bosses with whom they don't get along. These are soft skills the inmates learn when they enter the OCI program, Farris said.

For many who don't have labor skills, they will start with a broom in their hand, and work up the ranks, to the press brake and plasma cutter. The inmates receive job evaluations, and those with a release date will get help creating a resume.

"They take ownership of their work," Farris said.

Many of the shop workers live in the same housing unit. These are prisoners who want a better life on the outside, or on the inside.

"When a guy is serving 50 years, you better find him something to do," Dowling said.

Older inmates in OCI can also be mentors to younger inmates. Dowling and the OCI workers agree that creating a better inmate creates a better environment.

"It gives the rest of the yard hope," she said.

Reduced recidivism

Indeed, the recidivism rate for OCI workers was 1.2 percent in 2015, according to figures provided by Matt Elliott, spokesman for the Department of Corrections.

Still, critics of such programs deride them as "prison slavery," and even some inmates say OCI workers are toiling for the establishment.

Kelly Evans, a 53-year-old inmate convicted of larceny, several burglaries and "escape from confinement" in Oklahoma, operates the plasma cutter, slicing designs for benches and other products.

Evans, who is serving a life sentence, has heard the criticism for working in prison. OCI offers an alternative for inmates looking to stay away from the crime culture behind bars, he said.

"When you come through the gate, you leave the yard, you start to work," Evans said. "A lot of people are geared toward working something productive. And you're tired when you get off work."

Steps away from his part of the shop, coiled razor wire lined a fence. Evans wore blue jeans and a prison-issued sweatshirt. He marveled at becoming a prison old-timer. He talked proudly about the new plasma cutter.

"Focusing on the work, you find some normalcy," Evans said.

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