(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Prison Industries board has approved two requests from food packing company Diamond Crystal Brands and electronics manufacturer Timberline Manufacturing to hire inmates from the women’s prison in Mitchellville. Prison officials are required by law to take steps to ensure the contracts aren’t displacing civilian workers. Prison Industries director, Dan Clark, says that’s not an issue right now as businesses have been struggling to fill job openings.

“The company’s been suffering, as many companies are…to hire enough employees to support their business. Last I talked they needed to hire more than 40 people,” he says. He says the women will earn competitive wages and get work experience that may help them continue working with the same companies once they’re released.

“We want to help Iowa employers. But also we want to help women. And then when they get out, you know, land in a job quickly,” Clark says. The director of the Department of Corrections says the job training and partnerships with businesses are part of the reason the recidivism rate in Iowa prisons has fallen for the first time in six years.

(By Kate Payne, Iowa Public Radio)