Lori Walsh: . With the national shortage of personal protective equipment finding the masks, gowns and face shields to protect workers from the novel coronavirus has become an emergency and an opportunity for community action. Pheasantland Industries is a division of the South Dakota Department of Corrections. Inmate workers are now engaged in making thousands of pieces of personal protective equipment. Stefany Bawek is director of Pheasantland Industry and joins us with details. Stefany, welcome. Thank you for being here.
Stefany Bawek: Thanks for having us.
Lori Walsh: Tell us a little bit about Pheasantland Industries in general and then how quickly were you able to take the proper safety precautions for the inmates and get the supplies and sort of pivot from what you normally do to the current need?
Stefany Bawek: Well, we're actually pretty well versed in custom work, so this is definitely in our wheelhouse. We saw the rising need and even within our own agency that this was something that we needed to help prepare for. And so there's about 50 inmate workers that are involved in these projects and they're all very anxious and eager to get these out to our communities to do what they can to help.
Lori Walsh: All right. Tell me exactly what they're making and how?
Stefany Bawek: So they are making a single user face shield, some cloth masks and we'll be starting production on the gowns tomorrow. None of this is medical grade equipment. We are not a certified medical equipment provider but the face shields are being constructed with an elastic band to go around your head and then we're adding some foam for comfort, a steel bar for stability and then the PET plastic that is recommended by the CDC. The masks are going to be a soft jersey cotton or jersey cotton blend. We're making those in different colors. They have designations for the DOC specifically and then we are going to be making some gowns out of what is considered a level one barrier material.
Lori Walsh: Tell us a little bit first about the people who are doing the work and how many adjustments did you have to make to ensure their personal safety on the job?
Stefany Bawek: Well, we've definitely stepped up our sanitizing and cleaning procedures. We have people going around every hour giving sanitizer and sanitizing contact surfaces and all of the workers are wearing the cloth masks as needed. And as far as space, we're trying to give everybody the amount of space required so that they can social distance as well.
Lori Walsh: Yeah, that's what I'm wondering, how hard was that? Were they working pretty closely together to begin with and you had to really think how everything was set up? Or were they fairly spread out by six feet or more and that was an easier transition? How was it set up and how did you have to make changes?
Stefany Bawek: So typically the shops, they're fairly large spaces and when I think about production, it really wasn't that hard to separate people because we have a lot of large pieces of equipment that we're having to allow for space anyway and typically it's not more than a person on a piece of equipment.
Lori Walsh: Tell us a little bit where the products are going if they're not medical grade, who's going to be using them and how?
Stefany Bawek: Oh, the how, I'm not entirely certain we're a little bit limited in who we're able to sell to, so we're selling to people like nonprofits, other state agencies, just anybody who's really looking for a little extra protection.
Lori Walsh: Yeah. Are they used within the Department of Corrections in South Dakota as well? I'm thinking correctional officers or inmates themselves.
Stefany Bawek: Yes. Officers are wearing them, inmates are wearing them. We're just trying to do what we can to not spread germs.
Lori Walsh: Tell us a little bit about Pheasantland Industries in general and how that kind of work fills in as part of this overall reduction of recidivism and the value that people get from really having meaningful work at this time because a prison is a terrifying place to be right now, if not always.
So talk a little bit about the idea that Pheasantland Industry has in general about going to work and being of service, learning a skill. How does it fit into the overall mission of the Department of Corrections?
Stefany Bawek: So our mission is we want to support pathways for marketable job skills for the offenders that are working in our program. So there's a number of different ways that we can do that. Whether it's cultivating a new skill or just honing in on a skill that someone already had, we're trying to give them a real world experience for what it's going to be like to be employed when they leave here. I would say there are a number of inmates that may not have had gainful employment prior to coming to our facilities. So we want to model that real world situation. And our overall goal obviously is they don't recidivate. And this is just one way that we do that.
Lori Walsh: For people who are listening and who are in need of face masks or gowns or something and want to make purchases from Pheasantland Industries how does that process work?
Stefany Bawek: Well, we would have to verify that it is a entity that we're able to sell to, but they can certainly reach out to our main office here at the state penitentiary.
Lori Walsh: Are you looking at, is this an ongoing thing and I'm wondering specifically about supplies that you ordered in, elastic or fabric or foam, what have you, how long does this go on? And when do you get back to some kind of regular production schedule?
Stefany Bawek: Well, for what we have for outstanding orders, we're hoping to be done approximately mid-May and we will evaluate what needs are going forward, if we're still getting a lot of customer requests, we're happy to look at those.
Lori Walsh: Stefany Bawek, anything else about Pheasantland Industries that you want to just share with us before we let you go?
Stefany Bawek: It would be great if anyone would like to learn more about our program to go on our social media pages. Gives some insight into what's going on in our shops and what we're trying to accomplish here for the Department of Corrections.
Lori Walsh: Thanks so much for your time. We appreciate your time. Thank you.
Stefany Bawek: Thank you.