Chapter 1.14
USE OF INMATE LABOR
Sections:
1.14.020 Use of inmate labor pool.
1.14.040 Supervision of inmate labor pool.
1.14.050 Inmate labor supervision responsibilities.
1.14.060 Inmate labor pool – Recordkeeping.
1.14.070 Inmate labor clothing.
1.14.080 Limitation of inmate labor pool use.
1.14.090 Inmate labor pool restrictions.
1.14.010 Inmate labor.
In accordance with RCW 9.92.130, when a person has been sentenced by any municipal or district judge in this state to a term of imprisonment in a city jail, whether in default of payment of a fine or otherwise, the chief of police for the city of Buckley may cause persons under sentences of imprisonment in the city jail to work and perform work for the public, including in and on the streets, public buildings, and grounds of such city. Such labor shall be performed on each working day, except Sundays, during the sentence of any such prisoner, a full eight hours and no more to be considered a day’s work under this section. (Ord. 13-07 § 1, 2007).
1.14.020 Use of inmate labor pool.
The supervision of such labor and work set forth in BMC 1.14.010 shall be under the direction of a responsible employee of the department benefiting from the services of the inmate.
All requests for inmate labor by city departments shall be submitted to the chief of police or his designee, who shall approve or deny the request at his discretion. The request shall include the name of the department making the request, the name of the person making the request, the type of labor to be performed, the number of inmates requested, the hours the inmates will be working, the number of days the inmates will be needed and the type of equipment and/or tools the inmate will be utilizing.
The employee supervising the inmates shall not be responsible for physically trying to prevent an escape. The supervising employee shall be responsible for immediately notifying the police department if an escape does occur. (Ord. 13-07 § 1, 2007).
1.14.030 Hours of work.
A work day consists of eight hours’ work maximum. The inmate labor pool will not be utilized on Sundays. A standard work day will be from 0700 hours to 1530 hours. Inmate laborers shall be returned to the jail facility at 1200 hours each day for a 30-minute lunch break. (Ord. 13-07 § 1, 2007).
1.14.040 Supervision of inmate labor pool.
It is the responsibility of the user group representative signing out the inmate to provide supervision for the inmate. At no time will an inmate laborer be left unsupervised. The user group representative signing out the inmate will maintain constant sight supervision of the inmate or if the representative must leave the work site the representative will be responsible to have someone else supervise the inmate. If an inmate is found by jail staff to be unsupervised it will result in the immediate termination of inmate labor services to the user group. (Ord. 13-07 § 1, 2007).
1.14.050 Inmate labor supervision responsibilities.
A representative of the user group shall be responsible for picking up and returning offender laborers to the Buckley City Jail. The representative of the user group will be responsible for ensuring the safety of the inmate laborer by providing appropriate safety protection such as but not limited to eye protection, gloves, hearing protection and providing safe-handling training for each tool or equipment used by the inmate laborer.
Individuals from each user group who will be responsible for the supervision of inmate laborers must first complete a supervisory course provided by jail staff.
Individuals who are not certified or who have not completed the supervisory course will not be authorized or allowed to sign out, utilize and/or supervise inmate labor at any time. A roster of those individuals in the user group(s) that have completed the mandatory supervisory class shall be provided to city jail staff and the jail staff will not release any inmate laborer to an uncertified member of the user group. (Ord. 13-07 § 1, 2007).
1.14.060 Inmate labor pool – Recordkeeping.
Each user group shall be responsible for providing a written record of the inmate’s name and number of hours worked per day to the Buckley city finance director for the purpose of providing Labor and Industries insurance for the inmate laborers.
At the time a user group representative checks out an inmate laborer the user group representative will sign the inmate out with the jail staff. When the user group representative returns the inmate the representative will sign the inmate back in and provide a copy of the Labor and Industries hours worked sheet to be placed in the inmate’s file at the jail. (Ord. 13-07 § 1, 2007).
1.14.070 Inmate labor clothing.
The city jail will provide clearly marked clothing for the offender labor pool, appropriate for current weather conditions. The user group shall provide protective equipment as identified in BMC 1.14.050. (Ord. 13-07 § 1, 2007).
1.14.080 Limitation of inmate labor pool use.
Inmates of the inmate labor pool are allowed to perform manual labor and may only use small tools and equipment such as hand tools, weed trimmers, and push mowers, unless expressly authorized by the police chief. Inmates will also not be allowed to operate any motorized vehicle, unless authorized by the police chief. The purpose of the inmate labor pool is to provide manual labor to city departments. (Ord. 13-07 § 1, 2007).
1.14.090 Inmate labor pool restrictions.
While assigned to the inmate labor pool the following acts shall be expressly prohibited:
(1) Special requests or favors for offenders by supervising employee(s) is strictly prohibited and may result in the termination of inmate labor services to the user group.
(2) The Buckley City Jail is a nonsmoking facility and the inmate labor pool is not allowed to smoke while performing outside work. All meals will be provided by the jail staff at the jail facility. User groups will not allow the inmate labor pool to smoke, eat or drink anything that is not cleared by the jail staff prior to being given to the inmate laborer. The exception to this is water provided the offender by the user group.
(3) At no time will user group representatives allow an inmate laborer to have any visitors while working for the user group. Under no circumstances will an inmate be allowed to have verbal or physical contact with anyone, other than city staff, during work hours. Any contact is considered a serious security breach and will result in the offender inmate being removed from the inmate labor pool.
(4) Absolutely no items of any type are to be delivered directly or indirectly to offender inmates while outside this facility.
(5) Inmates are not to be allowed to make any phone calls while outside the facility.
(6) Any attempt, by any person, to make contact with or deliver any item to any offender inmate assigned to a user group shall be reported immediately to the police department by the supervising employee. (Ord. 13-07 § 1, 2007).