Survey on Prisoner Labor: Chippewa Correctional Facility

Chippewa Correctional Facility, Michigan

A little less than a third of the prison population has a job.

Manufacturing 30% Agriculture 20% Prison maintenance 55% including porters, kitchen crew, yard crew and recreation workers. Other 10% including wheelchair pushers, officer bootshiners.

Manufacturing items are items that are made for prison inmates i.e. shoes, pants, shirts, coats and repair. Agriculture products are donated, not sold.

Kitchen workers make, starting out, 17.5 cents an hour. Porters make $18-23 a month, yard crew makes $30-75 a month, factory workers $75-100 a month and garden workers make $35-75 a month.

Prisoners all work for the state

Prisoners work usually anywhere from 15 hours a week doing porter jobs opening 40 hours roughly as a regular porter or yard workers. Yard workers can work 50-60 hours in winter shoveling snow. Factory workers work 10 hours a day 5 days a week.