It's pretty amazing what they are trying to do. It's a complete slap in the face to our workers. We had to strike to get a minimum (hourly) wage of $9.27.

We are not about to give back what we fought so hard to win. Most of us continue to work two and three jobs to feed our families, while executive pay skyrockets.

By the time Van died everyone involved in the case knew the prison workers had only been kindly to him and he loved them, to use his words.

I'm not trying to malign the construction workers, but this is not what they're trained to do.

We are trying to perfect the routines. This is just a group of really hard workers. They are very dedicated and the really want to be here.

He's one of the hardest workers I've seen. He's in great shape and he's always trying to make himself better.