Prison Manufacturing: Volume I

Oregon Bedrolls are manufactured by inmates of the EOCI, Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton Oregon.

This excellent work skills program does more than teach inmates how to run industrial equipment, it teaches them skills to be good employees, being on time,  interpersonal workplace skills,  communication skills, professionalism as well as reinforcing pride in accomplishment.

We searched the entire west coast for appropriate manufacturing, there is none in Oregon, several in downtown LA, not the good part of the town. Quality of the workmanship was paramount, and we chose the prison in Pendleton.

The facility is modern, professional, well run, well lit, organized, spacious and expansive with well over 100 workstations.

The inmates and their boss Rick that finished 3 final prototypes and got the manufacturing going on the bedroll were great to work with, they went  above and beyond.  The program at EOCI in Pendleton has been a huge asset to Oregon Bedroll.

Inmates are compensated, but the bulk of their pay is withheld and applied towards restitution of victims, taxes, family support or goes to pay back the state for incarceration costs.

The inmates I have met who work on the Oregon Bedroll have been capable, businesslike, motivated, and generally excited to show off how high quality of work they can do.

Oregon Bedroll is proud to be associated with this fine program.

To be clear, Oregon Bedroll is an independent business, located 300 miles away in the wet half of the state and we use the prison to design and manufacture our products. Your credit card info does not go to the prison, but is processed in our home office in Corvallis Oregon. No offense to the inmates or prison system intended.

We will not be offering Prison Blues Jeans on our website and are clearing the remaing stock out, but this very good reseller is specializing in products that the inmates manufacture, including the jeans. https://www.correctionconnectionprisonblues.com We are stopping carrying the jeans because we are quite swamped with the exciting sales volume and developing the rest of the overdue product line and we want to focus on what’s important, and retailing jeans was too far down that list.

If you have a product you are interested having manufactured at the prison, and it’s not a self-inflating bedroll, email me and I’ll be happy to connect you to the right person at the corporation that manages the program.

Patrick Juell