Conclusion

Federal Prison Industries' greatest success is impossible to quantify: the extent to which it has prevented inmate unrest that would have been costly - in lives as well as dollars. This success is also obscured by the snarl of contentiousness over programs for inmates and sales to the Federal Government. But as one Federal warden commented in an interview, "When you get inmate idleness, you get discontent, and that breeds rebelliousness . . . If they burn this place down, it would cost $30 million to rebuild." In the face of an escalating inmate population and an increasing percentage of inmates with histories of violence, UNICOR's programs have helped ease tensions and avert volatile situations, thereby protecting lives and Federal property. Prisons without meaningful activities for inmates are dangerous prisons, and dangerous prisons are expensive prisons. The work and education programs of Federal Prisons Industries have played an essential role in protecting lives, preserving stability, and saving money in America's Federal Prisons.

At the same time, Federal Prison Industries has met its other goal of offering opportunities for inmates who want to take the personal responsibility for rehabilitating themselves. Most inmates eventually will be returned to society; industrial and educational programs can help them to steer clear of criminal activity after release. Former United States Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, a strong advocate of UNICOR, once asked, "Do we really want [released inmates] coming out without any training, without any skill they can sell on the outside?" Calling UNICOR "one of the most enlightened aspects of the Federal prison system," Burger stated, "My position on this is the most conservative one you can imagine. If you can take an individual and train him so that he can do something a little more useful than stamping license plates, he's a little less likely to go back [into prison] . . . This isn't for the benefit of the criminal community. It's for the benefit of you and me." In other words, work programs serve society by making prisons safer and less costly to operate, and by helping prisoners reform their behavior so they are less likely to be threat after release. Federal Prisons Industries works with inmates, but its primary beneficiary is the law-abiding public.

Federal Prison Industries was created in 1934 to solve the plague of inmate idleness in Federal prisons. From the beginning, its work programs were based on the "state-use" system so that it would not harm the private sector. It quickly became a remarkably cost-effective enterprise for the Federal Government by selling needed merchandise to Federal agencies and using the income to fund its own operations, to pay dividends to the U.S. Treasury, to subsidize inmate educational and vocational training programs, and to avoid the high costs associated with trying to manage disruptive prisoners.

Having come into existence during the economic depression of the 1930's, FPI expanded its productive capacity rapidly during World War II and became an important defense supplier. Throughout its history, FPI has adapted and upgraded its product lines in response to changing customer demands; the canvas feed bags for horses and wicker settees it produced in the 1930's, for example, have been supplanted by automated data processing services, modular office furniture, and electronic cables for defense systems. It also has continually revised and improved its educational programs, adding training programs in such emerging industries as aviation mechanics in the 1940's, television repair and air conditioning in the 1950's, and computers in the 1980's, to better prepare inmates to enter the job market after release. Consistently praised as an exemplary prison management and correctional program, FPI borrowed marketing and customer service principles from the private sector in the 1980's, and streamlined its operations, in order to succeed even during the period of Government belt-tightening in the 1990's.

For over 60 years, Federal Prison Industries, Incorporated, has been the most important program in Federal prisons. As the Federal inmate population climbs during the remainder of this century and well into the next, FPI will continue to be a critically important tool for managing Federal prisons that are orderly, cost-efficient, productive, and humane.

John W. Roberts, Ph.D., is Chief of Communincations and Archives for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.