171. Inmates to be employed; products of labor of inmates. 1. The commissioner and the superintendents and officials of all penitentiaries in the state may cause inmates in the state correctional facilities and such penitentiaries who are physically capable thereof to be employed for not to exceed eight hours of each day other than Sundays and public holidays. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, however, the commissioner and superintendents of state correctional facilities may employ inmates on a volunteer basis on Sundays and public holidays in specialized areas of the facility, including kitchen areas, vehicular garages, rubbish pickup and grounds maintenance, providing, however, that inmates so employed shall be allowed an alternative free day within the normal work week.
2. Such labor shall be either for the purpose of the production of supplies for said institutions, or for the state, or any political subdivision thereof, or for any public institution owned or managed and controlled by the state, or any political subdivision thereof; or for the purpose of industrial training and instruction, or partly for one, and partly for the other of such purposes.
Last modified: February 3, 2019