AUGUSTA, Maine –Maine’s prison industries program, in which inmates make furniture and novelties for public sale,

needs to be reorganized so it contributes more to the cost of running itself and the corrections facilities, a legislative committee was told Monday.

A bill sponsored by Rep. Stanley Gerzofsky is broadly worded and prescribes no specific plan for modifying or expanding the program, which dates back to the earliest years of the state and was wracked by corruption resulting in a prison lockdown more than two decades ago.
Gerzofsky, a Brunswick Democrat and a former Maine prison industries director, said he envisions a working group of lawmakers and state Corrections Department officials who could study the program during the summer and come back next year with specific recommendations.
But in his testimony before the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, Gerzofsky was clear about his longer-range goal: “So taxpayers of Maine can honestly know that the people they’re sending away are paying for their incarceration.”
Gerzofsky said Maine should follow the lead of other states that have profitable prison industries programs.
His bill starts off with a strong measure of committee support. Gerzofsky is House chairman of the panel, and his bill is co-sponsored by the Senate chair and three other members of the committee.
While the Corrections Department took no formal position on the bill Monday, Commissioner Martin Magnusson called the study “a great idea” and said he would be glad to participate in the study.
Inmates work in the industries program in five of the state’s adult prison facilities and sell products in a retail shop in Thomaston, near the site of the former state prison, and through 60 private vendors in the state.
The Corrections Department’s Web site says average revenues for the industries program exceed $1.5 million annually. But the program does not generate enough revenues to offset its expenses.
The earliest form of the program dates to 1823, when inmates worked in a granite quarry and made leather harnesses for horse and ox teams, Gerzofsky said. It later evolved into a program in which woodworking is a major activity. Other components include upholstery, embroidery, license plates, wood harvesting and engraving.
The program became engulfed by corruption by in the 1960s and ’70s after inmates who became known as “novelty kings” effectively took over the program, using intimidation and strong-arm tactics to establish little fiefdoms for themselves and siphoning away income for themselves.
The program was broken up as state police and corrections officers enforced a prison lockdown in 1980. It has since been reconstituted with the state keeping a closer watch on its operations.
“We have come a long way, but I think there’s a whole lot more we can do,” Magnusson told the committee.