Farmer in the cell: cashing in on prisoners.

• Author: Weigel, David
• Position: Citings - Colorado Correctional Industries - Brief article

AFTER A crackdown on illegal immigration, farmers in the rural area outside Pueblo, Colorado, found they lacked the labor to help them plant and harvest crops. When the farmers pressed their case with state Rep. Dorothy Butcher (D-Pueblo), she offered a proposal: Why not use prison inmates?

In May a private company, Colorado Correctional Industries, will launch a pilot project putting one or two groups, totaling eight to 10 prisoners apiece, to work in Colorado fields. It will be the latest of more than 30 work programs authorized by the state's corrections department, but the first to fill a need created by an exodus of Mexican migrant workers. For...