If the California Prison Industry Authority, known as Calpia, were a publicly traded conglomerate, analysts might be discouraged by its latest results. Sneaker orders are off 45 percent. Two eyeglass factories had to close. And forecasts for prison-made modular-building components are bleak. Since its founding in 1983, California's inmate work program has grown into the largest in the U.S. About 5,000 con- victs punch the clock at 57 state-operated prison factories, where they earn 35<￠ to 95<￠ an hour making dentures, recycling toner cartridges, and cutting meat, among many other tasks. But the program is endangered by a systematic thinning of inmate ranks.
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