The Oregon Corrections Enterprise has a question for American business owners: why take advantage of the impoverished of Asia to get a job done at well-below minimum wage when there's a huge pool of bodies to take advantage of right in your own state prison?

According to the OCE, prisons in the U.S. have started to target businesses that'd otherwise outsource operations to China or India, offering good, red-blooded American criminals as the wise alternative. Companies benefit from a crew of telemarketers that can never be absent, late or on vacation, get no benefits and draw a salary of about a buck an hour.

The prison industry touts the work program as an opportunity for prisoners to learn skills that will prepare them for life outside the big house. But critics point out that some of the inmates have instead used their access to names and addresses to further their criminal activities.

» Scott Saxon