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PHILADELPHIA STORY: AN INNOVATIVE WORK PROGRAM IN THE REAL WORLD

NCJ Number
143573
Journal
Federal Prisons Journal Volume: 3 Issue: 2 Dated: (Fall 1992) Pages: 25-29
Author(s)
K Byerly; L Ford
Date Published
1992
Length
5 pages
Annotation
The Philadelphia Urban Work Cadre program allows nondangerous Federal inmates who have good histories of institutional adjustment and are within 10 to 18 months of release to transfer into a work program in a community corrections center, performing jobs for another Federal agency, the Defense Personnel Support Center.
Abstract
The program exemplifies efforts by Federal agencies to share resources in support of joint goals as a means of cutting the cost of government. When inmates in the work program reach the last part of their sentences, they move into the prerelease phase. In this phase they live in a community corrections center and work in traditional jobs in the community. The program began in 1990 and resulted from extensive discussions among administrators from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the Greater Philadelphia Community Corrections Center, and the Defense Personnel Support Center. The inmates perform general maintenance duties on military bases, including lawn mowing, painting, carpentry, tree cutting, and custodial work. To date, 88 inmates have taken part in the program. They are paid 75 cents per hour from Bureau of Prisons performance pay funds. The Bureau of Prisons has developed guidelines for expanding community service projects, and 11 programs are now operating in different parts of the country. Photographs