Commentary

Outsource to Indians ? or Prisoners?

Yet another interest group that opposes offshoring jobs: If not for consulting firm Perry Johnson’s aversion to moving jobs offshore, [David] Day, who was convicted of assault, and his cellmates wouldn’t be working. About a dozen states â�?��?? Oregon, Arizona, California and Iowa, among others â�?��?? have call centers in state and federal prisons, underscoring a push to employ inmates in telemarketing jobs that might otherwise go to low-wage countries such as India and the Philippines. Arizona prisoners make business calls, as do inmates in Oklahoma. A call center for the DMV is run out of an all-female prison in Oregon. Other companies are keeping manufacturing jobs in the USA. More than 150 inmates in a Virginia federal prison build car parts for Delco Remy International. Previously, some of those jobs were overseas.