After first escape, N.J. farm drops inmate labor

Last October, we noted a prison labor program that had New Jersey inmates vying to work on one of six state-owned farms. But last week, one farm was closed after a high-profile inmate escape. Skillman Farms, a dairy farm in Montgomery Township, was a coveted worksite for minimum-security inmates, but after 22-year-old Marc Harris escaped from his detail three weeks ago, the state Department of Corrections announced that only civilian staff work there. "It only takes one guy to screw it up," Frank Papa, administrator for AgriIndustries, the state-owned farm system, told Nyier Abdou of The Star-Ledger of Newark.

While the farm prison-labor system has been touted as both providing transition for prisoners at the end of their sentences and saving the state about $1 million each year on food costs, neighbors of prisons voice concern for public safety. One noted that the dairy farm is close to several schools. "The question is, why are these prisoners working near our children?" Valerie Smith asked Abdou. But others note that this is the first escape in the decade-long history of the program. (Read more; to read the original story, click here.)