Capitol Press: Prisoner proposal stirs labor debate – Some call it logical, others say it’s crazy

With U.S. prisons overflowing and farmers begging for workers, some people see the proposal as a logical solution.

Others say it’s crazy.

"I think it’s absolutely insane," said George Grant, a Rupert, Idaho, farmer and president of the Snake River Farmers Association.

Inmates belong in prison, not on farms, he said.

"I’m offended that anyone would even think of something like this," Grant said in a recent telephone interview. "Why don’t we send (prison inmates) into the hospitals to work there? We’re short on nurses, too."

Grant’s group helps farmers navigate the labyrinth of red tape required to hire workers through the federal H-2A guest worker program.

The idea that convicted drug dealers and assorted other offenders are going to do the same work for less pay is ludicrous, Grant said. The Colorado proposal would pay prisoners 60 cents per day.

"This is hard, physical work," Grant said. "It has to be done timely and it has to be done efficiently."

Other agricultural groups are equally skeptical of using inmate labor.

Bringing prisoners onto the farm would pose a significant security risk and likely hurt production, they say.

Most growers want to stick with experienced immigrant farmworkers who return season after season, said Paul Simonds, a spokesman for the Western Growers Association.

"They know how to work a field," Simonds said. "When you bring in people who don’t know how to do the work, you put yourself at a disadvantage as far as production is concerned."

WGA represents grower-shippers in California and Arizona who produce nearly half the nation’s fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts.

Farmers in those two states are expecting a 20 to 30 percent decline in the agricultural labor pool this year, Simonds said.

Western Growers is pinning its hopes on the possibility that Congress will pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill this year.

"I don’t think (inmate labor) is a viable alternative,’ Simonds said. "It’s not something that Western Growers is pursuing at all."

Tapping into the prison system for agricultural workers would be a "drastic measure," said Sharon Hughes, executive vice president of the National Council of Agricultural Employers.

"Frankly, that would jeopardize our food safety," Hughes said. "It just doesn’t make much sense."

Like Western Growers, NCAE is focusing its efforts on immigration reform.

"Agriculture needs a legal, stable supply of experienced workers, not people who are being forced into it," she said.

Farmers in some parts of the country suffered crop losses last year because there weren’t enough workers to harvest their crops, she said.

"We will see more crops lost this year," unless something is done to get more workers in the fields, she said.

Hopefully, Congress will pass an immigration reform bill with an ag jobs provision, Hughes said.

The chances of that happening are better this year than they’ve ever been because of widespread support from many industries, not just agriculture, she said.