The first factory at the state penitentiary in Walla Walla opened in 1892. Inmates were put to work making jute bags.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

Inmates in Correctional Industries' Tumwater facility unload materials that will be used in a furniture factory.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

Lyle Morse, former head of Correctional Industries, moves a $2,800 restraint desk made by prisoners. Troublesome inmates are shackled when taking required classes at the Walla Walla prison.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

An inmate works as a welder behind an amber-colored protective screen at Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

Walla Walla prison laundry workers were recently shifted onto the rolls of Correctional Industries, the nation's fourth-largest inmate labor program.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

Correctional Industries Director Danielle Armbruster says the furniture-making program has reduced its reliance on simple assembly of prebuilt products.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

All Washington license plates are made by inmates at the Walla Walla prison. Over the past eight years, Correctional lndustries' profit on the plate business has totaled $5.8 million. And a new rule means the average Washington motorist may need to buy plates more often.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

Inmates at the penitentiary in Walla Walla prison have been making the state's vehicle license plates since the early 1920s.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

In a spray booth at Stafford Creek prison, inmate Keith Craig powder-coats a metal plate as he works for Correctional Industries.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

Michelle Manchester, an inmate at the Gig Harbor prison, has to correctly hammer 48 nails in less than five minutes in a pre-apprentice program, managed by Correctional Industries, which provides training to inmates who do not work in CI factories. The goal is to help inmates find jobs as carpenters.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

Inmate Veronica Hutzler learns the proper strength and techniques for moving lumber on a job site in a pre-apprentice program, managed by Correctional Industries, which provides training to inmates who do not work in CI factories. Inmates are timed and evaluated on skills.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

Xing Mei Zhu sews inmate garments inside a CI factory at the Gig Harbor prison.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

Katherina Metcalf uses a silkscreen process to apply “GCCC INMATE” on the back of a heavy jacket made for the Goose Creek Correctional Center in Wasilla, Alaska. She works inside a CI factory at the Gig Harbor prison.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

Katherina Metcalf, an inmate, lifts a coat she has silkscreened at a CI factory at the Gig Harbor prison.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

Learning to read and translate music, books, maps and brochures into Braille is a CI job at the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

Washington license plates are stacked, waiting to be embossed with numbers at the state penitentiary in Walla Walla. License-plate replacement is one of the most unpopular rules in the state.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

The first license plates were made by vehicle owners. In the early 1920s, a jute mill at the Walla Walla prison became a license-plate factory, where all the state's plates are still made.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

The CI tool-room manager at Walla Walla prison keeps track of tools loaned out to inmates to make sure they are returned.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

This board allows for a quick visual accounting of which tools are loaned out to inmates for day use in CI jobs at the Walla Walla prison.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

State employees can come to the Correctional Industries showroom in Tumwater to try out and order office chairs made by inmates.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

At Spring Back Northwest in Tacoma, mattresses are deconstructed and components are recycled, a labor-intensive business. The tiny company had to compete with Correctional Industries, the nation's fourth-largest prison labor program.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

Mattress retailers and the public save money by taking old mattresses to Spring Back Northwest instead of a garbage dump.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

It's dirty work taking apart mattresses at Spring Back Northwest, which gives jobs to hard-to-employ people, including ex-convicts, and keeps bulk materials out of landfills.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

Fabric covers from old mattresses are loaded into a trailer at Spring Back Northwest in Tacoma for recycling. Business has boomed since Correctional Industries shut down its mattress program.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times

Walla Walla is home to the quintessential inmate work — making license plates. It's been done there since the early 1920s. Before that, vehicle owners made their own plates.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times