§ 904.809 — Private industry employment of inmates of correctional institutions

Iowa § 904.809

• Jurisdiction: Iowa
• Title XVI: CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE
• Ch. 904: DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

Text

1. The following conditions shall apply to all agreements to provide private industry
employment for inmates of correctional institutions:
a. The state director shall comply with the intent of section 904.801.
b. An inmate shall not be compelled to take private industry employment.
c. Inmates shall receive allowances commensurate with those wages paid persons in
similar jobs outside the correctional institutions. This may include piece rating in which the
inmate is paid only for what is produced.
d. Employment of inmates in private industry shall not displace employed workers, apply
to skills, crafts, or trades in which there is a local surplus of labor, or impair existing contracts
for employment or services.
e. Inmates employed in private industry shall be eligible for workers’ compensation in
accordance with section 85.59.
f. Inmates employed in private industry shall not be eligible for unemployment
compensation while incarcerated.

g. The state director shall implement a system for screening and security of inmates to
protect the safety of the public.
2. a. Any other provision of the Code to the contrary notwithstanding, the state director
may lease one or more buildings or portions thereof on the grounds of any state adult
correctional institution, together with the real estate needed for reasonable access to
and egress from the leased buildings, for a term not to exceed twenty years, to a private
corporation for the purpose of establishing and operating a factory for the manufacture and
processing of products, or any other commercial enterprise deemed by the state director to
be consistent with the intent stated in section 904.801.
b. Each lease negotiated and concluded under this subsection shall include, and shall be
valid only so long as the lessee adheres to, the following provisions:
(1) Persons working in the factory or other commercial enterprise operated in the
leased property, except the lessee’s supervisory employees and necessary support personnel
approved by the state director, shall be inmates of the institution where the leased property
is located who are approved for such work by the state director and the lessee.
(2) The factory or other commercial enterprise operated in the leased property shall
observe at all times such practices and procedures regarding security as the lease may
specify, or as the state director may temporarily stipulate during periods of emergency.
3. The state director may provide an inmate workforce to private industry. Under the
program inmates will be employees of a private business.
4. Private or nonprofit organizations may subcontract with Iowa state industries to
perform work in Iowa state industries shops located on the grounds of a state institution.
The execution of the subcontract is subject to the following conditions:
a. The private employer shall pay to Iowa state industries a per unit price sufficient to
fund allowances for inmate workers commensurate with similar jobs outside corrections
institutions.
b. Iowa state industries shall negotiate a per unit price which takes into account staff
supervision and equipment provided by Iowa state industries.
5. a. (1) An inmate of a correctional institution employed pursuant to this section shall
surrender to the department of corrections the inmate’s total earnings less deductions for
federal, state, and local taxes, and any other payroll deductions required by law.
(2) The inmate’s employer shall provide each employed inmate with the withholding
statement required under section 422.16, and any other employment information necessary
for the receipt of the remainder of an inmate’s payroll earnings.
b. From the inmate’s gross payroll earnings, the following amounts shall be deducted:
(1) Twenty percent, to be deposited in the inmate’s general account.
(2) All required tax deductions, to be collected by the inmate’s employer.
(3) Five percent, to be deducted for the victim compensation fund created in section
915.94.
c. From the balance remaining after deduction of the amounts under paragraph “b”, the
following amounts shall be deducted in the following order of priority:
(1) An amount which the inmate may be legally obligated to pay for the support of the
inmate’s dependents, which shall be paid through the department of health and human
services collection services center, and which shall include an amount for delinquent child
support not to exceed fifty percent of net earnings.
(2) Restitution as ordered by the court under chapter 910.
(3) The department may retain up to fifty percent of any remaining balance after
deductions made under subparagraphs (1) and (2) if the remaining balance is from an
inmate employed in a new job created on or after July 1, 2004. The funds shall be used to
staff supervision costs of private sector employment of inmates at correctional institutions.
Funds retained pursuant to this subparagraph shall not be used for administrative costs of
Iowa state industries.
(4) Any balance remaining after the deductions made under subparagraphs (1), (2), and
(3)shallrepresentthecostsoftheinmate’sincarcerationandshallbedepositedinthegeneral
fund of the state.

d. Of the amount credited to the inmate’s general account, the department shall deduct
an amount representing any other legal or administrative financial obligations of the inmate.

Legislative History

[C79, 81, §216.10]