Some prisoner's do work outside of the prison, it's called work release. Only the one's who earned that right, get to do that. Then, some of them run away and later get caught, go back to prison, for even MORE prison time. Some work inside the prison and earn a little bit of pay....so they can buy candy, stamps, etc. Or they find some naive person on the outside willing to send them money, etc.
They give some of the trusted ones jobs, like the cafeteria...there is alot of corruption though (the guy running the state cafeteria in the prison here stole alot of money and left the country, here)...
Many of the prisons are overcrowded, though and are filled to OVER safe capacity. There is not enough room for everyone. Here, some are being released back out onto the streets early.
I've seen the Sheriff's dept take groups out to pick up trash from the hiway, etc.
Unfortunately, the budget cuts are cutting not only LAW ENFORCEMENT but also PRISONS. We have a prison here (or two) that has been built and is not being used due to LACK OF FUNDS to run it.
Look at California...it is bankrupt.
Yeah, I like that Sheriff in Texas, makes those guys think twice about going back there.