Business opinions regarding prisons, productive work, and incarceration's job-preparation role, when coupled with strong support for changing the prison system from the ground up, provide a strong basis for developing and promoting an industries program, if the legitimate concerns of business are addressed. The legitimate concerns of business, as represented in Iowa, can be addressed through more effective communication that is responsive and targeted, developed in partnership with business, and that is not distracted by more vocal critics. Business leaders with reasonable concerns about the impact of industries in the marketplace are likely to be favorable toward productive inmate work. Corrections administrators need to address their concerns so that this favorable disposition toward inmate work can be transformed into solid support for correctional industries. Business leaders' underlying support for productive inmate work could provide a new basis for the business community's and the public's view of prisons and corrections. Although productive inmate work may not be the ideal public image of corrections for many corrections professionals, it is better than the current public image of corrections, and it is attainable. 10 references