Corrections Concepts, Inc., a Dallas based non-profit is working to get Wakita, Oklahoma to sponsor the building of a new private prison. The facility would be the first all Christian prison in the U.S. Volunteering inmates would be supervised by Christian guards, and staffers. In addition, the inmates would work at the facility in a prison industry under the federal PIECP program. However, Corrections Concepts intends to not abide by the PIECP mandatory requirements of paying inmate workers in the program prevailing wages - instead choosing to pay them federal minimum wages - for their labor. This is what got me interested in this story.
The avoidance of paying prevailing wages was first presented by Corrections Concepts founder, Bill Robinson to Texas Governor Bush in 1995 when Bush's support was sought. Bush so liked the idea of combining faith-based community initiatives with prison industries for prison inmates, in the following year (1996) he authored Resolutions there in Texas making it easier for such initiative programs to get state tax dollars for their operations. Once in the White House, Bush brought the concept with him, establishingWhite House Offices of Faith-Based Community Initiative satellite offices in every Federal Department and Agency including the Department of Justice that oversees the PIECP program. Bush did this by Executive Orders within days of taking office in 2001.
PIECP-Violations opposes the building of such a "Christian" prison in Wakita, Oklahoma - not on just religious grounds, but also due to the stated intention of not abiding by the federal PIECP requirements regarding the planned prison industries. Too many prison industries and their private sector partners are already taking advantage of this important program, by not paying prevailing wages to the inmate workers. This allows for more corporate and prison industry profits at the expense of the work force. In addition it provides these violators with an unfair advantage over private sector companies who manufacture the same or similar products on the open markets. I exchanged emails with Mr. Robinson and was unpleasantly surprised by his attitude, religious zeal and willingness to believe anyone who opposes him is "Godless" or "one sick puppy". These communications are available to read and for those of you who want to read them for yourself, I've made them available. Scroll down the page here. While many in the media articles about his Christian Prison efforts were objecting to the concept, Robinson chose me to single out and attack. Maybe it was because like him I was an ex-offender and he felt more comfortable going after me instead of the others who voiced the same objections as I. My main objection to his proposal was due to that part that stated he wanted to use inmates in his prison industries under PIECP and underpay them with minimum wages instead of the required prevailing wages. Robinson has denied he would pay wages less than required by PIECP in his rants to me, but the first paragraph of his "Curriculum" is clearly worded with "minimum hourly wage". Like PRIDE in Florida, Mr. Robinson refuses to see any real difference between prevailing and minimum wage rates.
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