Do Not Buy the Pop-sickle Stick recreation of the Bridge Over the River Kwai. That is NOT glue holding it together!
prison crafts:
https://worksthatwork.com/5/innovation-behind-bars
https://weburbanist.com/2009/09/10/insane-prisoner-inventions-24-diy-prison-tools-weapons/
https://www.tablazed.com/2018/04/incredibly-lethal-made-in-prison-weapons.html
So the Covid rate has dropped to the point that inmates aren’t dying fast enough to make room for the newbies? What a wonderful way to make the prison system look good while reinfecting the prison populace.
2021 is shaping up to be a good vintage for toilet wine.
Maybe I’m missing your point here - but are you saying a declining covid rate in prisons is a bad thing?
On the subject of prison craft fairs, this is not a new thing. Prisoners have a lot of time on their hands and making craft projects is a popular hobby. Many prisoners become very skilled.
The local county fair when I was growing up had an entire building dedicated to prisoner craft projects (and still does as far as I know). Some were just on display (with ribbon judging for the best projects) and others were for sale to the community.
For sure; from the article linked in the OP:
As a lawyer, I’ve been to the local correctional centre many times. There is a small gift shop in the public reception lobby (a couple of glass cabinets, really), where crafts made by the inmates are for sale. I’ve perused it when my contact-officer is going to be a little late.
For the most part, the offerings are beadwork–earrings, necklaces, and so on–but there are also watercolour paintings and pencil sketches, suitable for framing. All display a high degree of skill. The receptionist will be happy to sell a visitor any of the items in the cabinets, and the proceeds will go on the account of the inmate who produced the purchase.
I was definitely being sarcastic. I always have doubts about programs supposedly design to benefit prisoners at Angola(aka Louisiana State Penitentiary), the largest maximum security prison in the U.S. There have been allegations of underreporting Covid at that prison, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this little craft fair was more for the benefit of the system then for the benefit of the prisoners.
Wiki has a brief outline about Angola, but it provides links if you really want to learn more about it.
Louisiana State Penitentiary - Wikipedia
100% of the proceeds, or do they deduct the cost of materials?
All of the proceeds. The inmate purchases materials from the canteen using his or her own account funds, designs and creates the item, and sets their own price. Thus, $3 worth of beads and other necessary things can become an $8 pair of earrings. If the earrings sell, then the net profit to the inmate is $5, which can be put towards more craft supplies, or anything else that the canteen offers.
It’s a nice program. The correctional centre does have jobs for inmates, but they tend to be of the mopping-floor or wiping-meal-tray variety. This is a chance for inmates to enjoy a hobby, and make a few dollars at it, at the same time.
I should note that “canteen” is a bit of a misnomer, though it is the word that we all use. While it does sell snack foods, candy, soft drinks, and ramen noodles (which are very popular); it also sells such things as pencil-puzzle books, stationery and stamps, magazines, and more–including art and craft supplies, which the inmates can buy, in order to make items to sell at a profit.
I hope it works the same way at Angola.
I was aware you were being sarcastic - or czarcastic as the case may be. But even sarcasm has a point.
The point you seemed to be making was that even when a prison does something positive, you will find some hidden motive behind their actions and still judge them as being evil. And when you choose to ignore the actions of a person, a group, or an organization and judge it only on your pre-existing beliefs, it’s nothing but prejudice in the literal sense of the word.
The Folsom Prison Museum has on display a very elaborate model Ferris Wheel that an inmate made entirely out of toothpicks back in the 1950s.
Is that why it fell apart the first time I tried to send my train over it?
Angola doesn’t get a free pass. If they are starting a program, it should be looked into to make sure everything is on the up-and-up.
AFAICT from the OP’s link as well as from other sources, Angola has always had the arts and crafts fair accompanying the rodeo; they’re not just “starting” it because of the rodeo cancellations.