Hi "Friends",
I don't know Guys, look what You get in jail these days.
(1). Three square meals a day.
(2). Learn a trade, . . . [Making Lic. Plates for automoblies]
(3). Don't pay Any TAXES!
(4). Free Room and Board.
(5). Free cable Tv
(6). Free clothing & Laundry.
(7). No BILLS!
(
. Roof over Your head,. .[Although it's made out of "Stone-Walls & Steel-Bars]
HEY!, . . . . .DO YOU THINK THEY HAVE "DSL" or Dial-up in the "Big-House"???!!!
Yes, . .yes, . .I'll stop, . . . . . .When, . . . . . .They Pry My COLD GREY DEAD FINGERS FROM MY "KEY-BOARD"!!!!
"Ball & Chain-Jak"
PS:" The Site I was going to link to was 'kinda NOSEY'& Full of Bugs, So I just copied the page for Your Reading Pleasure"
Article was taken from "FISCAL NOTES" Window on Government.
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Computers rescued from scrap heap,
repaired in prison, sent to schools
Taking a Byte Out of Crime
The factory floor is brimming with computer parts. Hard drives, monitors and circuit boards cover workbenches. Electronic equipment, in various stages of assembly, is stacked everywhere.
A personal computer factory with an inventory overload? In a way, yes. This is the scene at the Wynne prison unit of the ***** Department of Criminal Justice (*****) in Huntsville where prisoners refurbish computers as part of a work- training program. The finished computers are delivered to ***** schools.
Since its beginning in October, the Computer Recovery Program has shipped 91 computers to 12 schools. That's just a start. Another 70 schools have asked for 1,107 computers. To meet the demand, officials will add a second shift early this year and may go into production 24 hours a day. The program is to expand to the Gatesville and Coffield prison units this year.
The program, approved by the 1999 Legislature, could help alleviate several critical problems.
One is the question of what to do with obsolete computers. State agencies and universities threw away or stored more than 50,000 computers in 1998, up from 37,481 in 1997. In 1994, the number was 14,045.
Another is the need for computers in ***** classrooms. The demand for the recovery program's products is ample evidence of that. Schools were notified of the program through the mail.
The computer repair and assembly skills inmates receive in the program should help prepare them for employment when they are released from prison. Job studies show that computer technicians are in demand. Other studies show that released inmates with marketable skills are less likely to return to prison.
Legislative OK
The program was authorized in a law written by Sen. Bill Ratliff, based on work done by the ***** Comptroller's office.
"It sounded like a reasonable and very cost-effective proposal if the prisoners could rehabilitate those PCs and put them back in use," Ratliff says. "It gave them a way to be trained on electronics and it is a source of rehabbed computers."
Under the program, ***** Correctional Industries(TCI), the prison system's work-training program, can receive, repair or refurbish and resell the state's surplus or salvaged data processing equipment. That allows state agencies to send everything from personal computers to typewriters to the Wynne Unit.
TCI factories employ more than 6,500 inmates overall, with about 60 working in the Computer Recovery Program.
So far, the program has been overwhelmed by the response from suppliers--state agencies and universities--and customers--the schools, which get first dibs on the computers. State agencies and other political subdivisions in the state are next in line.
Growing problem
By October 1999, the program had received 1,400 desktop computers, 2,000 monitors, 370 printers, 85 typewriters, eight printers from mainframe computers, two mainframe disk drives and two fax machines. That adds up to 50 tons of equipment. By December, the total had reached 125 tons.
Finding a useful place for obsolete computers is a national problem. An estimated 20.6 million computers were deemed obsolete in 1998, according to a study from the National Safety Council, but just 2.3 million computers--11.3 percent- -were recycled. The rest were sent to landfills, stored in warehouses or sold for pennies on the dollar. About a third of the equipment that goes to TDCJ's program is unusable and scrapped.
Mike Vandervort, associate vice president and business manager for the University of ***** at xxxxxxx, has shipped several pallets of computers to TDCJ. "The new TDCJ computer recovery program is a great way to dispose of computers that will eventually end up in public schools," he says.
The Comptroller's office has shipped 326 units to the program (terminals, monitors, printers and hard drives).
Chris O'Dell, the agency's Information Resources Manager, says, "Once Workstation Support removes all sensitive information and software from the computer equipment, all we have to do is put it on pallets and shrink wrap it; TDCJ does the rest."
By December, 13 state agencies and universities had shipped equipment to the program. Agencies sending old equipment include the Comptroller's office, the Attorney General's office, the ***** Workforce Commission, the ***** Department of Public Safety, *** ******* State University, the ***** Board of Architectural Examiners and the ***** Water Development Board.
Inmate training
While the program extends the life of computers, it also provides training for inmates. Candidates for the program must have good disciplinary records, participate in vocational classes through the TDCJ's Windham School District and express a desire to acquire vocational skills. Participants are usually two to five years from release. They become certified computer technicians after completing the program.
Using existing TDCJ funds and revenue from scrap sales, the initial capital outlay plus staff costs was about $400,000 for the first year of the program. Lawmakers provided no additional money to TCI for the project.
TDCJ will track the program's workers after their release.
Like any computer maker, recovery program officials want to satisfy their customers. So far, they have.
The first computers went to schools in the Huntsville Independent School District. Katherine M. Young, a pre-school teacher at *** ******** Elementary, wrote to the program after getting the PCs:
"The children were very excited about receiving [the refurbished computers]. Words could never express how grateful we are to you and everyone that prepared them for our use. They will be a very valuable asset in our classroom. Thank you very, very much!"
Contributing to this article:
David Dennis and Mike Hay
Edited by - JakBeNymble on 20 Aug 2002 04:34:00
