NC inmates make soap for typhoon relief effort

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – North Carolina’s prison system is shipping more than half a million bars of soap made by inmates to the Philippines as part of the international relief effort following Typhoon Haiyan.

A truckload of soap is scheduled to leave by the end of the week from Warren Correctional Institution, which includes a manufacturing plant where inmates produce janitorial products for the prison system.

For years, North Carolina has sold inmate-made soap for the nonprofit Mission to Provide a Cleaner Tomorrow, an Ohio-based ministry works to promote hygiene and education in developing nations.

The soap for the relief effort is provided to the ministry for $30,000, roughly what it cost the state to produce it. This week’s shipment is the second half of an order for approximately 580,000 two-ounce bars of soap.

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