The sudden suspension of a Colorado prison-work program has thrown employers into disarray

[Nittersing]

https://coloradosun.com/2022/09/20/colorado-prison-labor-take-two/

The article says the call to end the program came from the Governor's office. Seems like an overreaction to me.


"The escape of a minimum-security inmate earlier this summer effectively shut down a touted prison-work program called Take Two, a gut punch to businesses struggling to find employees who had gambled on the 3-year-old program amid a historically tight labor market.

Employers who participated in the program, which let 59 low-risk inmates work outside prison walls shortly before their release, say they were given no time to warn customers or revise work schedules before Take Two was curtailed, costing some thousands of dollars in canceled orders and reduced hours.

A few employers say concerns about public safety during an election year are at least partly to blame for the demise of the program, which aims to reduce recidivism and save the state money on incarceration costs.

“It has felt, from our experience, that the intention was basically just to let the thing sit on someone’s desk for long enough to where it died with a whisper rather than making a headline,” said Andy Magel, founder of Mile High WorkShop, a Take Two participant that hires people who have been incarcerated, unhoused or addicted. "

[Phoenix61]

1. Seems there are businesses that can only make it

if they don’t pay market rate for employees. Imagine going to a bank and trying to get a loan for a business that is only profitable if you have prisoner workers.

[regnaD kciN]

2. It may have been an overreaction...

…but all it would take would be that escaped inmate (or another future one) to commit a serious crime for the governor’s political future to vanish as quickly as it takes to say “Willie Horton.”