Associated Industries of Alabama, Inc. v. Britton

371 So. 2d 904
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedJune 1, 1979
Docket77-600
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 371 So. 2d 904 (Associated Industries of Alabama, Inc. v. Britton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Associated Industries of Alabama, Inc. v. Britton, 371 So. 2d 904 (Ala. 1979).

Opinion

371 So.2d 904 (1979)

ASSOCIATED INDUSTRIES OF ALABAMA, INC., an Alabama Corporation, et al.
v.
Robert BRITTON, as Commissioner, etc., et al.

77-600.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

June 1, 1979.

*905 Fournier J. Gale, III and H. Thomas Wells, Jr., Birmingham, for appellants.

Robert A. Huffaker, Montgomery, for appellees.

BEATTY, Justice.

This is an appeal from a decree upholding the constitutionality of the "Prison-Made Goods Act of Alabama" (Acts 1976, No. 286) and denying injunctive relief. We affirm.

The issues on this appeal are:

1. Whether the Act is unconstitutional; and

2. Whether the prison industries are being operated in violation of the Act.

1. The Constitutional Issues.

The pertinent provisions of the Act follow:

§ 14-7-7. It is hereby declared to be the intent of this chapter:

(1) To provide more adequate, regular and suitable employment for the vocational training and rehabilitation of the prisoners of this state, consistent with proper penal purposes;
(2) To utilize the labor of prisoners for self-maintenance and for reimbursing this state for expenses incurred by reason of their crimes and imprisonment; and

*906 (3) To effect the requisitioning and disbursement of prison products directly through established state authorities without possibility of private profits therefrom.

§ 14-7-8. The Alabama board of corrections is authorized to purchase in the manner prescribed by law, equipment, raw materials and supplies and to engage the supervisory personnel necessary to establish and maintain for this state at the penitentiary or any penal farm or institution now or hereafter under the control of said board industries for the utilization of services of prisoners in the manufacture or production of such articles or products as may be needed for the construction, operation, maintenance or use of any office, department, institution or agency supported in whole or in part by this state and the political subdivisions thereof.
§ 14-7-13. (a) On and after August 13, 1976, all offices, departments, institutions and agencies of this state which are supported in whole or in part by this state and political subdivisions thereof shall purchase from the Alabama board of corrections all articles or products required by such offices, departments, institutions, agencies or political subdivisions of this state produced or manufactured by the said board of corrections with the use of prison labor, as provided for by this chapter, and no such article or product may be purchased by any such office, department, institution or agency from any other source, unless excepted from the provisions of this section as provided in section 14-7-14. All purchases made by state agencies shall be made through the finance department upon requisition by the proper authority of the office, department, institution or agency.
(b) Political subdivisions of this state may purchase directly from the board of corrections.
§ 14-7-16. In keeping with the primary objective of vocational training and rehabilitation of prisoners, the articles or products manufactured or produced by prison labor in accordance with the provisions of this chapter shall be devoted, first, to fulfilling the requirements of the offices, departments, institutions and agencies of this state which are supported in whole or in part by this state and, secondly, to supplying the political subdivisions of this state with such articles and products.
§ 14-7-22. (a) On and after August 13, 1976, it shall be unlawful to sell or offer for sale on the open market of this state any articles or products manufactured wholly or in part in this or any other state by prisoners of this state or any other state, except prisoners on parole or probation.

(b) Any person who willfully violates the provisions of subsection (a) of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be confined in jail for not less than 10 days nor more than one year or shall be fined not less than $10.00 nor more than $500.00 or both, in the discretion of the court.

Although the point is not controlling we must observe that legislation has existed in this state for a number of years authorizing the operation of penal industries. See Alabama Code of 1940 (Recomp.1958), Tit. 45, § 10(9). The present Act readopts part of those provisions. Their existence is not unique; other states have strikingly similar laws; e.g., Ariz.Rev.Stat., § 41-1621 et seq.; Ark.Stat.Anno., § 46-235 et seq.; Colo.Rev.Stat., § 27-25-101 et seq.; as does the United States government. 18 U.S.C. § 4121.

The first issue of unconstitutionality concerns Sec. 93 of the Alabama Constitution of 1901 (as amended by Amendment 58):

The state shall not engage in works of internal improvement, nor lend money or its credit in aid as such, except as may be authorized by the Constitution of Alabama or amendments thereto; nor shall the state be interested in any private or corporate enterprise, or lend money or its *907 credit to any individual, association, or corporation, except as may be expressly authorized by the Constitution of Alabama, or amendments thereto. ...

The plaintiffs maintain that the Act offends this provision by contemplating the establishment of a competitive business enterprise, one which "may potentially yield revenue or profit" to the state. We have been cited to Opinion of the Justices, 237 Ala. 429, 187 So. 244 (1939) and Opinion of the Justices, 247 Ala. 66, 22 So.2d 521 (1945) for the test to be applied, i.e., whether the operation of the enterprise was designed to make a profit.

Consideration of those opinions, however, does not lead to the conclusion that the prison enterprises established under the Act are designed as profit-making operations. In Opinion of the Justices at 237 Ala. 429, 187 So. 244 we were concerned with legislation establishing state-operated markets for the sale of agricultural produce to the public. In that advisory opinion describing the bill as offensive to Section 93 it is obvious that this Court considered that its purpose was to authorize state government to engage in competitive business. Reference was made in that opinion to State v. Murphy, 237 Ala. 332, 186 So. 487 (1939) (upholding legislation establishing state liquor stores) for this Court's analysis of Section 93:

The interest referred to [in Section 93] is a pecuniary interest in any private or corporate enterprise, and this prohibition was ... inserted in our organic law as a limitation upon the power of the legislature to again place our State in business enterprises and in competition with private individuals or corporations; or to undertake those things which ordinarily might, in human experience, be expected to be undertaken for profit or benefit to private promoters.

Applying this postulate to the enterprise at hand, clearly it is not constitutionally offensive under Section 93. The Act itself belies any purpose to operate the program for profit. Its stated intent is "self-maintenance" and reimbursement, not profit. Its announced "primary objective" is "vocational training and rehabilitation." Sales upon the open market are prohibited. Thus it is neither a "business enterprise" nor one which ordinarily

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