A recent Attorney General Opinion has prompted discussion concerning appropriate use of jail inmate labor. In Opinion No. GA-0261, Attorney General Abbott responded to a request from the Goliad County Attorney on whether Article 43.10, Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP), authorizes a county to use inmate labor in a joint venture between the county and a non-profit organization.
Article 43.10, CCP, concerns mandatory manual labor by convicted jail inmates. It states, in part, that convicted inmates “shall be required to do manual labor….” The inmates “shall be put to labor upon public works and maintenance projects, including public works and maintenance projects for a political subdivision located in whole or in part in the county.”
In summary, Article 43.10, CCP, requires manual labor by convicted jail inmates and restricts that labor to public works and maintenance projects. The Attorney General concluded that the work must be done on property owned by a political subdivision. Therefore, Article 43.10 does not authorize county inmate labor on a joint venture between the county and a non-profit organization.
However, the Opinion Request and A.G. Opinion No. GA-0261 did not address Article 43.101, CCP, concerning voluntary work by jail inmates. Article 43.101 provides that a defendant awaiting trial or awaiting transfer to TDCJ “may volunteer to participate in any work program operated by the sheriff that uses the labor of convicted defendants.” The sheriff may accept the inmate as a volunteer if the inmate is not charged or convicted of an offense involving violence and does not pose a security risk to the general public.
Until this question is addressed by the Legislature or further A. G. opinions, we recommend the following policies: (1) Mandatory labor by convicted defendants should be restricted to public works and maintenance on political subdivision property; (2) Volunteer, non-violent inmate labor should be utilized for private, non-profit events and projects. For more information, please call me at 1-800-733-0699.
Jim Allison, General Counsel CJCAT
