Is anyone aware of any legal authorization for a situation in which county commissioners are using inmate labor and then the jail commissary is charging the county for the work done by the inmates and putting the money charged into the inmate's commissary account? Has anyone heard of a similar situation? Does anyone foresee any legal problems with this arrangement?

OK. I'll take a swing at it.

Other than jail industries and the CCP statutes regarding working off a sentence, I don't know of one that specifically authorizes what you have described. The county has some general (and rather vintage) authority to run a work house for the indigent. This might be squeezed into that authority somehow if the inmates are indigent.

I would be more concerned about the practical aspects under labor law. Tx Labor Code Chapter 62 exempts them from state minimum wage requirements. There might be something similar in federal law, but I've never researched FLSA for inmate questions.

I am curious about the purpose behind paying inmates. If they work they are already getting extra credit towards their sentence. Plus, nothing is keeping the Sheriff from rewarding them with extra TV, more phone time, a couple of extra ho-hos at lunch, less spit in their evening meal, etc. for doing the work.

Thank you for your reply. Apparently this was set up in the past in order to provide the inmates with some money to buy cigarettes.