Tilapia facility will complement Shoshoni's mushroom operation
ROBERT W. BLACK Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Sunday, November 20, 2005 12:00 am
LUSK - First fungi, and now fish. Job opportunities are growing for Wyoming inmates.
A mushroom operation in Shoshoni will soon be joined by an aquaculture facility in Lusk, where tilapia - a fish native to Israel but gaining popularity elsewhere - will be raised by prison labor.
The fingerling facility is under construction at the Wyoming Women's Center, part of a $17.3 million expansion project that will enhance rehabilitation, job skills and education for female inmates.
"It just seemed like it would really fit our women's center," Wyoming Department of Corrections spokeswoman Melinda Brazzale said of the tilapia-growing operation. "It's a fairly mild fish. You can cook it in lots of different manners. It's fairly inexpensive to buy, and it grows pretty fast."
The rearing facility was the brainchild of Wyoming's first prison industries manager, Leonard Handford, who researched a number of different new jobs for inmates.
"Colorado has a program, and they're willing to partner with us," Brazzale said. "We would be shipping live fish out of here, and they would process them down there."
The program will employ two staffers and up to 16 prisoners.
National statistics indicate that inmates involved in vocational pursuits and education are less likely to return to prison, ultimately reducing costs to society. Jobs also help promote teamwork and instill a work ethic, officials say.
In 1999, the Wyoming Legislature passed a bill allowing for the Corrections Department to provide inmate labor for private companies whose products don't compete with existing businesses.
The first firm to contract with the state was Wind River Mushrooms LLC. It began operations in Shoshoni in September 2004 and is now producing 70,000 pounds of white button and Portabella mushrooms a week - enough to fill more than three semitrailers which carry the product to Utah, Montana, Colorado and California.
The plant employs 35 inmates from the Wyoming Honor Farm in Riverton and 18 non-prisoners in a 24-hour operation, according to Jim Ausem, Wind River's inmate work supervisor.
The prisoners work from 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. making compost outside, taking it inside and planting spores. The civilians pick mushrooms during the night shift.
The inmates earn $5.15 an hour, much higher than for traditional in-house jobs such as laundry, cooking and custodial services.
Inmates are required to save 15 percent of their wages, up to $2,500, which is available to them upon their release from custody. Another 15 percent goes to the Crime Victims Compensation Fund. The rest is split among child support, restitution and the Department of Corrections to offset the cost of incarceration.
Providing training and work opportunities is vital to rehabilitation, Corrections Department Director Bob Lampert said.
"It's kind of a hopeless proposition to think that we can just lock people away and that something miraculous happens," he said.
Capital bureau reporter Robert W. Black can be reached at (307) 632-1244 or robert.black@casperstartribune.net.