Article 4. Employment At Road Camps of California Penal Code >> Title 1. >> Part 3. >> Chapter 5. >> Article 4.

The Department of Transportation of the State of California may employ or cause to be employed, prisoners confined in the state prisons in the improvement and maintenance of any state highway.

"Department," as used in this article, means the Department of Transportation.

The Director of Corrections shall determine which prisoners shall be eligible for employment by the Department of Transportation in the improvement and maintenance of state highways, and shall establish lists of prisoners eligible for such employment. Upon the requisition of said department, the Director of Corrections shall send to the place and at the time designated the number of prisoners requisitioned or such number thereof as have been determined to be eligible for such employment and are available. The director may return to prison any prisoner transferred to camp pursuant to this section, when the need for such prisoner's labor has ceased or when the prisoner is guilty of any violation of the rules and regulations of the prison or camp.

The Director of Corrections shall fix a daily rate to be expended for convict labor, and when so fixed, the Department of Transportation shall monthly set aside funds to the director to pay for this labor from funds appropriated in the Budget Act for this purpose, and where no funds are available to the Department of Transportation the director may set aside the department's own funds to pay for this labor from funds appropriated in the Budget Act for this purpose. The Department of Corrections shall set up an account for each convict which shall be credited monthly with an amount computed by multiplying the daily rate by the number of days such convict actually performed labor during the month. Such account shall be debited monthly with the convict's proportionate share of expenses of camp maintenance, including the expenses for food, medicine, medical attendance, clerical and accounting personnel, and the expenses necessary to maintain care and welfare facilities such as camp hospital for first aid, barbershop and cobbler shop, and the convict's personal expenses covering his drawings from the commissary for clothing, toilet articles, candy, and other personal items. The charge for camp maintenance may be made at a standard rate determined by the department maintaining the camps to be adequate to cover expenses and shall be adjusted periodically at the discretion of the department as needs of the camp require. No charge shall be made against such account for the costs of transporting prisoners to and from prison and camp or for the expense of guarding prisoners, which items shall be paid by the Department of Corrections from appropriations made for the support of the department. The director, by regulation, may fix the maximum amount, over and above all deductions, that a convict may receive. The Department of Corrections, in computing the debits to be made to the convict's accounts, may add not to exceed 10 percent on all items.

When any prisoner shall wilfully violate the terms of his employment or the rules and regulations of the Department of Corrections, the Director of Corrections may in his discretion determine what portion of all moneys earned by the prisoner shall be forfeited by the said prisoner and such forfeiture shall be deposited in the State Treasury in a fund known as the Inmate Welfare Fund of the Department of Corrections.

This article is not intended to restore, in whole or in part, the civil rights of any prisoner used hereunder, and such article shall not be so construed.

No prisoner while engaged in such construction, maintenance and improvement of a state highway shall drive a motor truck or other vehicle or wagon outside of the limits established for the camp or construction work.

Said prisoners when employed under the provisions of this article shall not be used for the purpose of building any bridge or structure of like character which requires the employment of skilled labor.

The Department of Transportation shall designate and supervise all road work done under the provisions of this article. It shall provide, supervise and maintain necessary camps and commissariat, except that where no funds are available to the Department of Transportation, the director may provide, erect, and maintain the necessary camps.

The Director of Corrections shall have full jurisdiction at all times over the discipline and control of the prisoners employed on said roads.

Any person who, without authority, interferes with or in any way interrupts the work of any prisoners employed pursuant to this article, and any person not authorized by law, who gives or attempts to give to any prisoner so employed any controlled substances or any intoxicating liquors of any kind whatever, or firearms, weapons or explosives of any kind, is guilty of a felony and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 and shall be disqualified from holding any state office or position in the employ of this state. Any person who interferes with the discipline or good conduct of any prisoner employed pursuant to this article, while that prisoner is in the confines or limits of the state prison road camp is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for a term not more than six months, or by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars ($200), or by both that fine and imprisonment. Any peace officer or any officer or guard of any state prison or any superintendent of that road work, having in charge the prisoners employed upon such highways or state roads, may arrest without a warrant any person violating any provisions of this article.