Behind Bars - Doing Press Time

There are also days, he notes, when inmates aren't allowed to come to work until the morning fog lifts.

Lockdown: No One Works

Perhaps the most frustrating situation for any prison in-plant manager, though, is the lockdown.

"If there's a major altercation on the yard, it's quite possible the institution may lock down," says Thomas. This means inmates cannot leave their cells. Last year, he says, one lockdown lasted three months. The shop's five civilian managers went to work on the presses, and many of the jobs were farmed out.