What do prison officials hope to accomplish by allowing inmates in Ohio to raise chickens?”
Inmates at Ohio jail raise chickens for dinner By Sarah Weber, The Associated Press Updated 5:21 PM Saturday, April 24, 2010 FREMONT, Ohio — Move over, Colonel Sanders. Sheriff Kyle Overmyer is bringing chicken to dinner. The Sandusky County sheriff, who last year implemented a vegetable garden at the county jail, has now added chicken to the menu of home-grown goods. His brood of 50 White Mountain broilers are nugget-sized right now, but soon they’ll be 4 to 5 pounds each and ready for roasting. The sheriff started the jail garden program in 2009 to cut down on the cost of feeding the inmates so he could spend funds on retaining deputies. Sandusky County had to cut its general fund budget for 2010 to bring it in line with waning revenues. The sheriff’s office is the biggest draw on the budget, making it a target for cost reductions. Several sheriff’s office employees were laid off last year. To cut costs, Overmyer implemented the jail garden, negotiated a contract with a less costly f
Texas prison guards would get a 20% pay hike if TDCJ officials have their way, reports the Austin American Statesman (“Big raises sought for prison workers,” Aug. 14): Brad Livingston, the prison system’s executive director, said the proposal would raise starting pay for correctional officers from $26,016 to $30,179 and the maximum salaries from $34,624 to $42,242. Livingston said the increase would cover staff from correctional officers through wardens. For parole officers, starting pay would increase from $32,277 to $37,441, and the maximum salary would go from $36,363 to $43,636. Saying the proposal “will fundamentally address the officer career ladder for the long haul,” Livingston said the goal is to continue to reduce the agency’s critically high vacancy rate and “reward our employees for their dedication to providing public safety.” Texas prisons have been short of guards for several years, so short that officials within the past year have had to close parts of some prisons. Wit
