GOP gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino’s vision for turning prisons into state-sponsored dorms where welfare recipients would be able to receive job training and lessons in “personal hygiene” actually extends beyond New Yorkers who are on the public dole.

Speaking at the YNN studios in Buffalo this morning, Paladino said the program would actually be available to anyone without a job, regardless of whether they receive public assistance.

“We’re going to form the Dignity Corps, which would be a hybrid CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps),” Paladino said. “The CCCs were formed in the 30s by the Roosevelt administration, actually formed and started in New York. And that was an answer to help people regain self-esteem. It taught them basic things.”

“…So this program is multi-faceted, OK? Might be a forestry division. There might be a division for cities. A division for recycling things. A division for hospitals. A division for those who want to go into a military-type program. And you’re free to choose. You’ve got to choose one of them, but you’re free to choose.”

Paladino said the idea was born in part from his experience in the military, during which he learned many things – including hygiene, but he stressed that isn’t the focus of what he’s proposing to do. He also suggested that college campuses are under-utilized and might be used to house these programs.

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