Electronics recycling at prisons under fire

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Myron Levin, FairWarning
Wednesday, October 6, 2010

A government-owned company that runs electronics recycling plants at federal prisons from New Jersey to California is under scrutiny for repeatedly exposing prison employees and inmate laborers to toxic metals.

The Justice Department's Office of Inspector General is expected to release its report soon on a yearslong investigation of the recycling operations - including accusations that prison officials ignored customary workplace safety precautions.

Separately, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons has paid about $1 million to settle a grievance over hazardous duty pay with employees of an Elkton, Ohio, prison with one of the recycling plants. On one occasion, an air test at the eastern Ohio institution found cadmium levels 450 times higher than federal workplace safety limits.

A union for employees at the federal lockup in Atwater (Merced County) also is demanding retroactive hazardous duty pay. Barring a settlement, that case is scheduled for arbitration in December.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/10/05/MN7E1FOUI6.DTL&tsp=1

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