US 'Cons' produce Texas Plates

The new Texas licence plates are being produced in enormous numbers by inmates of a state penitentiary.

Over 100 selected prisoners work 5 days a week for no pay to satisfy the demand and the production line churns between 35 and 40 metal plates a minute.

Tom Pierce, a warden at the Wynne Unit prison said: "Everybody's got one, and they all came from the Wynne Unit."

The new design, which was chosen by more than 465,000 voters in an online poll, features the 'lone star' of Texas in the top left-hand corner and accommodates seven characters, rather than the previous six - reflecting the state's ever-growing motoring population. The previous system became exhausted after more than 31 million combinations were issued.

Notably, the numbers are no longer stamped onto the metal plates but transferred on with adhesive material - technology first used a few years back for special personalised 'vanity plates'. It is claimed that the new method is more environmentally sound since there is no need for paint and solvents.

The state's transportation department has been responsible for vehicle registrations for nearly a hundred years, using convicts as the labour force. They also produce plates for other states from time to time.

Inmate, Tommy Lopez, said: "I'm fixing to go home in 14 months. Every car I'll see with a license plate, I'll be thinking about this."

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