A Republican candidate for New York governor wants to turn prisons into dormitories for welfare recipients so they can get state-sponsored jobs, job training and lessons in "personal hygiene."
Carl Paladino is a Buffalo real estate developer popular with many conservative tea party activists. He's competing for the Republican nomination with former Rep. Rick Lazio. The primary is Sept. 14.
Paladino says the dormitory living would be voluntary, not mandatory, and would give welfare recipients an opportunity to take public state-sponsored jobs far from home.
He also defended his remarks about the hygiene of welfare recipients, saying he had trained troops from inner-city communities during his years in the Army and was familiar with their needs.
Paladino made his comments at an editorial board meeting with The Journal News of White Plains.
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