As at the prisons, inmates worked hard under rugged conditions and had limited supplies of food.

There's no way that you can force those inmates to work.

Most, if not all inmates work in the community during the day for an average wage of $7/day.

About half the 72,000 inmates in state prisons work at jobs for an average of $1.05 a day.

Thus the inmates worked and ate together, but in complete silence.

More recently, inmates of the county jail worked the farm and consumed the produce.

Where the inmates work on the dairy farms, and all,' she added.

In the two years that Gates has participated, 376 inmates have worked on 78 different projects.

In one room, three inmates were working diligently on computers.

"It's a good idea to require inmates to work and pay their own way," he said.