Labor performed by Westmoreland County jail inmates for nonprofit and government groups will have to be approved by the chairman of the county's prison board under a policy adopted on Monday.

Inmate labor, a fixture in recent years at the courthouse and in a handful of other locations around the county, will for the first time be regulated and limited to work for nonprofit agencies and government entities.

Inmates will be barred from working for private businesses and other for-profit entities.

The new policy was unanimously approved by prison board members after a 30-minute closed-door session at the request of Controller Carmen Pedicone.

Pedicone said he first considered a policy regarding the inmate labor force after seeing workers in orange jumpsuits planting flowers last month in Courthouse Square at the Greensburg complex.

"I wondered if there was a policy and found out there wasn't. I just wanted to be pro-active. I have no problem with them doing that kind of work. They do a fine job," Pedicone said.

The policy requires inmate labor projects outside of the jail to be approved in writing by the jail board chairman and to be possibly considered by the full board, which includes Pedicone, the three county commissioners, acting Sheriff Charles Moore and District Attorney John Peck.

The board also will have to approve the use of prison equipment on projects outside of the Hempfield lockup.

Warden John Walton said he fields a handful of requests for inmates to perform projects around the county. Most involve work for the government, including the recent flower planting at the courthouse and some carpentry work during a rehabilitation project at a district judge's office in Washington Township.

"Most of the time it is a (county) commissioner asking us to do it," Walton said.

Inmates earn 25 cents an hour for their work, but the jail receives no compensation. Walton said that in the past he has decided which projects merit inmate labor.

"It hasn't been an issue," Walton said.

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