Below is the letter written today and sent to U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder. The substance of the letter contains vital information related to the operation of the federal Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP). As you will read I have outlined the violations of 18 USC 1761(c). These violations provide incentives for prison industries and their corporate partners to use PIECP to increase profits through the program. In seeking these profits, participants are eliminating higher paying private sector jobs, transferring them to prisoners working in the program.
In addition I outline a clear impropriety by the transfer of PIECP oversight duties by the BJA to the National Correctional Industries Association (NCIA). I assert that this transfer of authority/oversight is what is allowing an ever-increasing loss of private sector jobs by those pursuing profits.
Those who wish to copy this letter and send along to Mr. Holder on your own behalf may do so, or write one of your own and send it along. This is the last source we have for saving jobs and stopping the use of prison labor for profits.
Mr. Eric Holder
United States Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
29 November 2010
Re: 18 USC 1761(c) (PIECP) law violations related to loss of private sector jobs.
Mr. Attorney General Holder;
The purpose of this letter is to bring to your attention numerous violations of a federally run program under authority of the Department of Justice, that has resulted in great losses of private sector jobs to prison labor in state prison industries.
I am requesting your office conduct an inquiry into the OJP's PIE Certification Program, and outsourced federal oversight to private corporate participants and prison authorities of that program. There has been numerous civil and possibly criminal violations that are/have occurred under authority of this program. Violations committed by; prison industry operators, members of the NCIA and corporate interests partnered with PIECP industries.
I am also requesting your office inquire of the OJP and BJA, why they have repeatedly refused to enforce the mandatory requirements of this federal program that operates through their authority, when provided with ample evidence of those violations and repeated complaints accompanied by requests for intervention and compliance enforcement.
For more than seven years we have researched and compiled activities related to the Prison Industries Enhanced Certification Program - commonly referred to as PIECP or the PIE program. This federal program was authorized by Congress in 1979, properly codified and enacted. Responsibility for the program operation and oversight rests with the Bureau of Justice Assistance under authority of the Office of Justice Programs. Though the program intent was to use PIECP to allow for training of inmates in efforts to provide them with skills necessary to secure employment upon release from prison, it is now being used as a means of increasing profits by participants. In short, exploiting cheap inmate labor to replace private sector jobs and reduce overhead.
In 1995 the BJA outsourced oversight of this important program to the private non-profit corporation: National Correctional Industries Association(NCIA). From 1995 through the present the NCIA has consisted of all those state and federal individuals, corporations, vendors, suppliers and employees participating in PIECP. A quick review of the Board of Directors of the NCIA at: http://www.nationalcia.org/... reveals all members are currently involved in operating prison industries under PIECP and the authority to do so provided by 18 USC 1761(c). In addition the NCIA is rewarded for their violations via a taxpayer a grant of $250,000.00 dollars a year through the BJA for overseeing themselves. They're getting paid for abusing the program for profit.
There exists a genuine lack of oversight over these prison industries and their operators due to involvement of both in the oversight procedures currently in place. This self-oversight is allowing more and more violations of the program guidelines to occur. Many of these violations result in a loss of private sector jobs to prisoners by participants in search of higher profits, less employee benefits and advantages over private sector competing manufacturers.
Prison industries are required to abide by nine mandatory requirements to become certified to participate in PIECP. Some of these mandatory requirements are that they: pay inmate workers in the program "prevailing wages" for their labor (instead participants nationwide pay inmate workers state or federal minimum wages); are required to contact private sector labor groups and unions and have them sign documents that new prison industry operations will not unfairly impact manufacturing or unemployment in the locality of the prison industry (instead they are allowed to advertise in classified ads their intentions and to contact local Chambers of Commerce as a way of informing competitors of their intent); and authorized deductions may be taken from the wages of inmate workers for taxes, restitution, family support and room and board to offset the costs of incarceration. All of these mandatory requirements are being violated without consequence by participants. Deductions legally taken under 18 USC 1761(c)(2) from inmate wages are being diverted to pay for corporate PIECP operations.
One example of this is the privately run prison industries in Florida. Prison industry operations are run by Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises (PRIDE of Florida). While 18 USC 1761(c)(2) allows for a deduction from inmate wages for room and board (currently 40% of gross wages paid in Florida) it specifies the money is to be turned over to the state Department of corrections (FDOC) to offset the costs of incaarceration paid for by tax dollars.
Instead, Florida statutes F.S.'s 946.522 and 946.523 were enacted to first authorize collection of room and board deductions under the program, then divert the money deducted from inmate pay back to PRIDE to offset their costs of operation in the PIE program.
The effect is inmate employees fund continued prison industry operations with 40% of their wages, deducted under a federal mandate by 18 USC 1761(c)(2) - under the authority of the DOJ Office. None of these funds are used to reimburse taxpayers for incarceration costs. To date this one non-compliant state law has resulted in the loss of $4 million dollars to the inmate workers and the FDOC who is entitled to that money for actual room and board costs. It has also provided PRIDE with an additional $4 million in liquid assets that is non-taxable under their 501 (C)(3) IRS non-profit exempt status.
In addition, PRIDE partnered with five private sector corporations under PIECP from 1999 through 2005. In each instance PRIDE seized the companies, their equipment, proprietary technology, supplies, materials and products and diverted this to use as stand alone industries owned and run solely by PRIDE. One of these take-over thefts of a business is still in litigation in Florida - PRIDE vs ATL Industries, Inc. These partnerships were not only disastrous to the company owners, it impacted upon private sector jobs that were transferred to inmates.
To take full advantage of PIECP, PRIDE formed and funded nine corporate spin-offs in Florida from 1998-2003. PRIDE Executives and Board Members were listed as owners, CEO's, CFO's and Directors in these private corporations. In 2005 their schemes were exposed by a scathing Governor's IG Audit (4-2004, February 2005, found at: http://www.flgov.com/... that resulted in the resignations of top PRIDE officials. This report however, did not address PIECP violations of underpaid wages, diverted deductions from inmate accounts or the theft of five entire companies by PRIDE and their affiliated spin-offs.
From 2003 through the present I have presented the BJA, OJP, DOJ, NCIA, IRS and ultimately the F.B.I. with documented violations - some criminal in nature - regarding PIECP and the program participants. Most have been ignored or sent to the NCIA for investigation or review, and they refuse to respond. One request to the BJA's Policy Advisor resulted in a promise of comprehensive investigation of PRIDE's business and PIECP activities - past and current. He promised the investigation would be concluded by "winter of 2009" and as of now, entering the winter of 2010 no investigation has been conducted by the BJA.
I am in possession of thousands of pages of documents related to PIECP and the violations that are ongoing. These include lobby reports, duplicate sets of books maintained by a PIECP industry, processing of contaminated food products for human consumption and obstruction of justice to cover up the contamination, lobby reports, affidavits, media reports, inmate pay stubs, 100's of inmate letters, tracking charts, customer lists, product lines and other papers on this subject. I am willing to make all in my possession available to you personally. I say personally because everything sent to date to the BJA has disappeared without review, investigation or return. Many of the non-confidential documents mentioned above are available at: www.piecp-violations.com on my site files page. Feel free to preview and download anything that will assist you from that site. Confidential or more sensitive documents can be provided from my office. I will make those available to your office upon request.
In closing I am hopeful you will conduct a thorough review of PIECP and how it is being abused and eliminate the NCIA as oversight of the program. Compliance with program laws cannot be accomplished with oversight being conducted by participants themselves - at taxpayer expense. Until compliance is enforced, we will continue to lose more and more jobs to these profit driven corporate interests partnered with prison industries.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. I look forward to hearing from your office,
Robert W. Sloan
Prison Industry Consultant
7515 E. Ruskin Place
Indianapolis, Indiana