Welcome to the State of California, Prison Industry Authority

Joint Venture Program (Adult)
Free Venture Program (Youth)

The Joint Venture Program (JVP) is a rehabilitation endeavor providing opportunities for inmates to gain valuable work experience and job-skills training, in addition to providing valuable benefits to business owners. The Free Venture Programs (FVP) operates much in the same way the JVP does, except that it is located within California Juvenile Institutions Both are agreements/contracts between the state of California, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and private industry business owners.

Joint/Free Venture Program Summary


The Joint Venture Program (JVP) was established in 1990 upon the passage of Proposition 139, the Prison Inmate Labor Initiative, as a rehabilitative endeavor providing opportunities for inmates to gain valuable work experience and job skills training.

The Free Venture Program was established on August 1st, 1985 by the California Department of the Youth Authority. It was the first youth correctional agency in the United States to be issued a Certification for Interstate Commerce from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Both program mandates allow for the establishment of private business operations within California State Prisons and Youth Correctional Facilities utilizing inmate/ward labor. Under program guidelines, Inmates/wards are paid a comparable wage that is subject to deductions for:

  • Federal, State, and local taxes
    		•
  • Family support
    		•
  • Room and board
    		•
  • Mandatory Inmate savings
    		•
  • Restitution fines or victims compensation
    		•

     

    Program Requirements

    The Prison Industry enhancement Certification Program (PIECP) was created by Congress in 1979 to encourage local government to establish private sector work opportunities for inmates, enabling the acquisition of marketable skills to increase the potential for meaningful employment upon release.

    the Federal authority, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, grants certification to each jurisdiction upon demonstrating satisfactory fulfillment of mandatory criteria to include:

    • Authority to involve the private sector in the production and sale of inmate-made goods on the open market.
    • Payment of comparable wages at a rate not less than minimum wage or wages paid for work of a similar nature in the locality in which the work is being performed
    • Assurance of non-inmate worker displacement
    • Benefits comparable to those made available to federal, State, or similarly situated private sector employees, such as workers' compensation and in some cases, Social Security.
    • Allowable deductions limited to taxes, room and board, family support, and victims' compensation. All deductions will total no more than eighty percent of gross wages.
    • Voluntary inmate participation
    • Consultation with organized labor
    • Consultation with private industry
    • Compliance with National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

    State Mandates Include:

    Joint/Free Venture Program Summary


    The Joint Venture Program (JVP) is a rehabilitation endeavor providing opportunities for Inmates to gain valuable work experience and job-skills training. Established in 1990 upon the passage of Proposition 139, the Prison Inmate Labor Initiative, program mandates allow for the establishment of private business operations within California State Prisons utilizing Inmate labor.

    This unique relationship is a cooperative effort of private industry and the State benefiting businesses, victims, and the State while preparing inmates for successful reintegration into the community. Under program guidelines, inmates are paid comparable wage that is subject to deductions for: Federal, State, and local taxes; room and board; restitution fines or victims compensation; family support; and mandatory inmate savings.

    Joint/Free Venture Program Goals


    The goal of the JVP & FVP is to identify, develop, and implement joint venture businesses to create a cooperative rehabilitation effort between the State and inmate participants by enhancing job skills while reducing incarceration costs, recidivism, and prison violence.

     

    State Benefits Inmate Benefits Employer Benefits

    Compensation for incarceration costs

    Restitution to Victims

    Creates tax revenue

    Reduces Inmate Idleness

    Reduces programming costs

    Reduces recidivism

    		 Paid comparable wages

    Work training experience

    Marketable Trades

    Mandatory savings accessible upon parole     		Tax credits

    Reduces long-term lease

    Reduced workers compensation rates

    No benefit expenses

    Motivated labor pool

    For more information on this program, please contact Scott Perkins at 916-358-1621 or email JVP@pia.ca.gov.