An Idaho program that allows some agricultural businesses to use state inmate labor when they can’t find enough workers could be expanded next year.
Six ag businesses in Idaho are currently using the program and the number of inmate workers fluctuates between 150 and 261.
Idaho Senator Patti Anne Lodge, who authored the 2014 legislation that created the program, said at the time it was a way to help farm businesses that faced a serious labor shortage while also assisting with the rehabilitation of low-risk inmates. Lodge plans to introduce a new version of the bill during the 2018 legislative session that could allow more sectors of the farm industry to use the program.
The program is being used by two fruit companies in southwestern Idaho and four potato-related companies in East Idaho. The program is for companies that face a serious labor shortage and not a way for them to obtain cheap labor. To ensure that’s the case, businesses are required to pay inmates the prevailing wage and acknowledge they have tried to get a non-inmate workforce.
Some of the money the inmate makes goes into a victims’ restitution program, some goes to pay for the cost of the program, and the inmate keeps a portion. (Capital Press)
