MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- The House of Representatives adjourned for the day today after a squabble over a bill that would let private businesses employ prison inmates to make their products.

There was no vote on the bill. Many black lawmakers opposed it, saying it could take jobs from Alabama citizens and that it harkened back to the days of chain gangs and forced prison labor.

Bill sponsor Rep. Jim McClendon, R-Springville, called the bill a win-win situation since the companies would pay the cash-strapped prison system and the inmates who volunteer for the program would earn minimum wage or more.

"It astounds me," McClendon said of the opposition.

"The bill makes so much sense. It helps the victims. It reduces recidivism. It helps the prisoners. It helps the prison system," McClendon said.

McClendon said the program would be entirely voluntarily and inmates could not be forced to participate. Any restitution the inmate owed would be taken out of his wages. "It keeps them busy," McClendon said.

All of the work would be done within the prison or on property owned by Department of Corrections, McClendon said.

Opponents of the bill said it could take jobs from Alabama citizens

"I just don't like using prisoners to do things that compete with the free market," Rep. Demetrius Newton, D-Birmingham, said.

Newton said the bill was somewhat reminiscent of the days of prison mines and other forced prison labor.

But McClendon disputed assertions that the bill would take jobs from free citizens, saying the jobs would be new employment opportunities from companies.

The House approved the bill last year, but it did not win final passage in the Alabama Senate, McClendon said. McClendon said he expects the House will eventually approve the bill again.

House members will reconvene Tuesday.