1997 Minnesota Statutes

     241.275 Productive day initiative programs; correctional 
  facilities; Hennepin, Ramsey, and St. Louis counties. 

    Subdivision 1.    Program establishment.  (a) As used in 
 this section, "correctional facility" includes a community-based 
 day program to which an offender is sentenced in lieu of 
 incarceration, if the program provides close supervision of 
 offenders through such means as electronic monitoring and drug 
 and alcohol testing. 

    (b) The counties of Hennepin, Ramsey, and St. Louis shall 
 each establish a productive day initiative program in their 
 correctional facilities as described in this section.  The 
 productive day program shall be designed to motivate sentenced 
 offenders in local correctional facilities to develop basic life 
 and work skills through training and education, thereby creating 
 opportunities for offenders to achieve more successful 
 integration into the community upon their release.  

    Subd. 2.    Program components.  The productive day 
 initiative programs shall include components described in 
 paragraphs (a) to (c).  

    (a) The initiative programs shall contain programs designed 
 to promote the offender's self-esteem, self-discipline, and 
 economic self-sufficiency by providing structured training and 
 education with respect to basic life skills, including hygiene, 
 personal financial budgeting, literacy, and conflict management. 

    (b) The programs shall contain individualized educational, 
 vocational, and work programs designed to productively occupy an 
 offender for at least eight hours a day.  

    (c) The program administrators shall develop correctional 
 industry programs, including marketing efforts to attract work 
 opportunities both inside correctional facilities and outside in 
 the community.  Program options may include expanding and 
 reorganizing on-site industry programs, locating off-site 
 industry work areas, community service work programs, and 
 employment programs.  To develop innovative work programs, 
 program administrators may enlist members of the business and 
 labor community to help target possible productive enterprises 
 for offender work programs. 

    (d) Whenever offenders are assigned to work within the 
 correctional facility or with any state department or agency, 
 local unit of government, or other government subdivision, the 
 program administrator must certify to the appropriate bargaining 
 agent that work performed by offenders will not result in the 
 displacement of current employed workers or workers on seasonal 
 layoff or layoff from a substantially equivalent position, 
 including partial displacement such as reduction in hours of 
 work other than overtime work, wages, or other employment 
 benefits. 

    Subd. 3.    Eligibility.  The administrators of each 
 productive day program shall develop criteria for offender 
 eligibility for the program.  

    Subd. 4.    Evaluation.  The administrators of each of 
 the productive day initiative programs shall develop program 
 evaluation tools to monitor the success of the programs.  

    Subd. 5.    Report.  Hennepin, Ramsey, and St. Louis 
 counties shall each report results of their evaluations to the 
 chairs of the house judiciary finance division and the senate 
 crime prevention finance division by July 1, 1996.  

    HIST: 1994 c 636 art 6 s 4; 1996 c 408 art 8 s 3