07/07/2026
Industrial sewing machines rattle across the garment factory as workers lug stacks of denim. Rolls of raw material envelop long cutting tables where workers measure fabric, inspect flaws, and slice patterns for jeans bound for customers from America to Asia.
This 47,000-square-foot garment factory is located at Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution (EOCI) and is home to the denim and workwear brand: Prison Blues.
Prison Blues was established in 1989 to provide adults in custody (AICs) with work experience in a real-world manufacturing environment. Since then, the brand has grown beyond Oregon, developing a following in Japan and Europe. But for many of the AICs working on the production floor, the program's significance extends far beyond the garments leaving the factory.
AICs undergo a competitive hiring process with applications, references and interviews. Those accepted will be trained on the line, alongside about 80 other AICs, to craft products ranging from jeans and fishing vests to baseball caps and embroidered uniforms.
Prison Blues employees are paid hourly, ranging from $14 to $22. Working seven to eight-hour days, employees generate nearly $700 a week. Yet only 20% of that salary is kept to spend at their own leisure. The other 80% is put towards external expenses such as room and board, taxes, child support, etc. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, the average AIC makes $3.45 a day. With a starting hourly wage more than three hundred times higher than the average AIC pay, Prison Blues offers a financial incentive that is hard to ignore.
Some employees are saving their wages to support their families. Others work 40 hours a week in hopes of securing a stable lifestyle once released.
Finances may be the factor that initially gravitates people to Prison Blues, but the program is so much more than a paycheck.
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