More than $35,000 from San Quentin prisoners’ salaries has been donated to three Marin County charitable organizations at a ceremony on Nov. 6, 2008. Prisoners working with Joint Venture gave 20 percent of their earnings to this purpose; a program working to benefit several very different causes.
As a result of 1991 legislation allowing private businesses to come into the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), Labcon has been employing San Quentin prisoners for over 17 years.
Workers are paid minimum wage by these for-profit businesses and, after 20 percent is taken for Victim Restitution compensation, and another 20 percent for room and board, the remaining 60 percent is for the prisoners’ use.
Once these amounts are withdrawn, 20 percent more of each check earned must go into a savings account that the inmates receive, and, if there are family members to support, another 20 percent must be sent directly to care for their needs.
The remaining 20 percent still exceeds the possible earnings from any other prison job. Each year, the San Quentin warden decides which Victim’s Services program will receive the funds, and Warden Robert Ayers, Jr. selected this year’s recipients to be three Bay Area programs: Marin Abused Women’s Services ($10,851), Bay Area Women Against Rape ($10,851), and Sunny Hills Services ($14,468).
Marin Abused Women’s Services and Bay Area Women Against Rape focus on violence against women while Sunny Hills Services provides protection and assistance to abused children.
The San Quentin Labcon does assembly work, packaging over a million disposable pipet tips a week that are used in laboratories all over the nation. Employing 30 men in blue, the business is headquartered in Texas and owned by Tipton Golias, says Glenn Alexander, who supervises the work crew.
Representing Labcon at the event was Jim Happ, president of the company. Happ finds the arrangement with CDCR and San Quentin very good. Alexander says that the workers average $400 every two weeks. Prisoner Robert Lott uses some of the money to pay for his wife’s visits from Alaska.
As opposed to the customary $200 “Gate Money,” having an account waiting with a sizable sum of money provides a sense of accomplishment walking out the door. Many who parole with minimum resources find themselves returning to the “fast money” of crime. Building a good work ethic and having enough money for living expenses until work is found improves a parolee’s chance of a successful parole.
“You get used to punching a clock,” said Lott, talking about how it helps to improve a person’s worth ethic. “It’s a product that you have to get out on a schedule.” The San Quentin Labcon employees feel that their contributions make a real difference to those their donation will help, and the money earned will help them start a new life.
At the presentation were representatives from all three recipients. As the checks were handed over, each Victims Services’ representative expressed their great appreciation for the hard work of the men. They said that, in this time of tight budgets, these large amounts will help them to continue their vital services. They shook hands with the many employed prisoners, thanking them again.
