Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 29, 1992 TAG: 9203270096
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LETON, ORE. LENGTH: Medium
Stores across the state are selling the blue and black jeans made by inmates at the medium-security Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution. Buyers say they like them because of the quality and price.
Lori Teel, an employee at the Pendleton Grain Growers store in Hermiston, said the store has almost sold out its initial shipment of 400 pairs at $13.99 for an unwashed pair and $15.99 for a washed pair.
"We have a lot of gentlemen farmers who are buying for the price and because of the obvious quality construction," Teel said. "Also, we have a lot of younger people who would normally buy Wrangler or Levi buying because of the fit and the price. Some low-end jeans don't have the same fit to them."
Brent Wakeman, who manages the factory at the prison in northeastern Oregon, said two stores in Portland, 200 miles west, are selling the jeans. About 25 inmates, working an eight-hour shift, are producing almost 200 pairs of jeans per day. They make about $6 to $10 a day.
"That's steady," Wakeman said, "and I expect we'll have to expand this next month to keep up with demand."
The state built the factory to help curb idleness among more than 1,500 inmates. It also supplies other state prisons, which have switched to denim jeans and shirts for their inmates, Wakeman said.
Proceeds go back into the Department of Corrections industries program, which buys the denim and pays inmate salaries, Wakeman said. Teel said that fact may also help sell the jeans.
"There's a sign over the jeans that tells how the money goes back into the prison for inmate upkeep, and people seem real supportive of that theory," Teel said.
by CNB