874

(a) No employment under the work release program for any prisoner shall be approved if: (1) it is ascertained by the sheriff that such employment will result in the displacement of employed workers, or be applied in skills, crafts or trades in which there is a surplus of available labor in the locality, except in the case of a prisoner who is to be employed by an employer for whom he was employed as a free person prior to the commencement of his sentence, and; (2) the rates of pay and other conditions of employment are not at least equal to those paid or provided for work of a similar nature in the locality in which the work is to be performed. (b) The state department of labor shall exercise the same supervision over conditions of employment for prisoners participating in the work release program as such department does over conditions of employment for free persons. (c) In no event shall any work release program be permitted when there is any labor strike or lock-out in the establishment in which the prisoner is, or is to be, employed.