Las Vegas Prisoners Restore Classic Cars While Behind Bars

The days of making license plates in prison are over for some Las Vegas prisoners, these days they spend their time rebuilding vintage cars, at least that’s the case at the Southern Desert Correction Center.

The medium-security facility currently offers 33 medium-security inmates the opportunity to restore vintage vehicles. One inmate speaking with the Wall Street Journal revealed:

“We’ve got a ’56 Jaguar, a ’48 Rolls Royce, and a Studebaker pickup.”

The best part? Anyone with a vintage car can bring their vehicle to the prison where inmates work for the low rate of $5.15 per hour.

As prisoners earn their hourly wage 5% of the money they earn is deposited into a restitution fund for their victims while they learn a real world trade.

In order to work at the auto shop prisoners must have a high school diploma and no disciplinary infractions for a period of six months at which point they can accept a Monday through Friday position.

It’s not all good news for peope who drop off their cars, as one inmate reveals:

“You realize right away you’re not the priority,” and “It’s a prison. Those prisoners may get locked down and not see your car for weeks.”

Do you think putting prisoners to work on vintage cars is a good way for them to spend their time as part of a “good prisoner” program?