Section 1481 - Industries and labor in penal institutionsThe department shall have the power, and it shall be its duty:
(a) To establish, maintain, and carry on industries in the Eastern Penitentiary, the Western Penitentiary, the Pennsylvania Industrial Reformatory at Huntingdon, and such other correctional institutions of this Commonwealth as it may deem proper, in which industries all persons sentenced to the Eastern or Western Penitentiary or to the Pennsylvania Industrial Reformatory at Huntingdon or to such other correctional institution of the Commonwealth, who are physically capable of such labor, may be employed at labor for not to exceed eight hours each day, other than Sundays and public holidays. Such labor shall be for the purpose of the manufacture and production of supplies for said institutions or for the Commonwealth, or for any county, city, borough, or township thereof, or any State institution, or any educational or charitable institution receiving aid from the Commonwealth, or for the preparation and manufacture of building material for the construction or repair of any State institution or in the work of such construction or repair, or for the purpose of industrial training or instruction, or partly for one and partly for the other of such purposes, or in the manufacture and production of crushed stone, brick, tile, and culvert pipe or other material suitable for draining roads of the State, or in the preparation of road building and ballasting material.(b) To determine the amount, kind, and character of the machinery to be erected in each of the said penitentiaries, reformatory, or other correctional institution of the Commonwealth, and the industries to be carried on therein, having due regard to the location and convenience thereof, with respect to other institutions to be supplied, to the machinery therein, and the number and character of inmates.(c) To arrange for and make sale of the products, produced in the said industries carried on in the said penitentiaries, reformatory, or other correctional institutions, to the Commonwealth, or to any county, city, borough, or township thereof, or to any State institution, or to any educational or charitable institution receiving aid from the Commonwealth.(d) To maintain a fund, known as the manufacturing fund, out of which the machinery, equipment, and material, required or used in the carrying on of the industries in the said penitentiaries, reformatory, or other institution, under the provisions hereof, shall be purchased, and into which all the receipts from the sale as aforesaid of the products of such industries shall be paid, and from which fund shall be paid all the wages, as hereinafter provided, for the labor of the inmates of said penitentiaries, reformatory, or other institution, in such industries. The department shall have the custody of the said fund, and make or direct all disbursements therefrom.(e) To require that an account shall be kept by the proper officers of the said Eastern Penitentiary, the Western Penitentiary, the Pennsylvania Industrial Reformatory at Huntingdon, or other correctional institutions, of the labor performed by the inmates of such penitentiary, reformatory, or other institution, in the industries carried on therein under the provisions hereof. In such account, each inmate shall be credited with wages for the time he is actually engaged in work, the rate of such wage, and the amount credited to each, to be regulated at the discretion of the department or such persons as it may designate. In no case shall the amount be less than ten cents nor over fifty cents for each day of labor actually performed. The difference in the rate of compensation shall be based both upon the pecuniary value of the work performed and also on the willingness, industry, and good conduct of such inmate.(f) To allow three-fourths of the amount so credited as aforesaid to an inmate of such penitentiary, reformatory, or other institution, or the entire amount, if the inmate so wishes, to constitute a fund for the relief of any person or persons dependent upon such inmate, and to be paid, upon the order of the Board of Inspectors or managers of the penitentiary, reformatory, or other institution in which the inmate is a prisoner, to the person or persons establishing such dependency to the satisfaction of such board, at such time and times as said board may order. All sums credited to any inmate and not paid to a dependent or dependents shall be paid to the inmate on his discharge from the penitentiary, reformatory, or other institution in which he was a prisoner: Provided, however, That, subject to the rules and regulations of the Board of Inspectors or managers of the penitentiary, reformatory, or other institution in which such inmate is a prisoner, the whole or any part of said sum may be paid to him during his imprisonment for his present needs; such rules and regulations to be subject to the approval of the department.
(g) To have and exercise supervision over the labor employed in the aforesaid industries, and to make rules and regulations for carrying on such industries.(h) To make a full quarterly report to the Auditor General of the products, sales, receipts, and disbursements of the industries established under the provisions hereof.1921, May 25, P.L. 1144, § 21.