BP/government making things worse for jobs & beaches?

  Questions are being raised about the people who are being employed to clean up the Gulf. Some don't appear to be working and some are prisoners. Question: at $12 to $20 an hour, why aren't local residents being employed? There are certainly many who are desperate for work right now. Considering the 40% of a prisoner's wage goes back to the state, why wouldn't BP want that money to go back into the local economy? And what right does a prisoner have to keep any money he's earned while in prison?
  Here's a local news station in Alabama questioning what's going on with the subcontractors:

News 5 watched a clean-up crew hired by BP to pick up tar balls in Orange Beach and found out the men only worked about an hour within a four-hour time-frame. We put our cameras up on a hotel balcony and watched the men gawk at sunbathers, talk on cell phones and joke around more than actually working. We set up the investigation after receiving countless phone calls and emails about how many clean-up crews are slacking on the job.

The men took a two-hour lunch break and when returning for lunch, shoveled tar for about five minutes then took a 15 minute break.

We confronted the crew supervisor. He says they're required to work 15 minutes then take a 15 minute break.

  Here a British newspaper documents the use of prisoners in cleaning the beaches. Funny this never made it into American newspapers.

Prisoners from the Elayn Hunt Correctional Centre prepare to undertake a training exercise to learn how to cleanse oil from birds affected by the slick

  Thousands of people have volunteered to help but BP seems to think prisoners are smarter than the average population. It takes a 4 hour practical course (Please don't eat the oily sand) to train someone to do the work. As evidenced by the tornado cleanup efforts in Northwest Ohio, people are ready and willing to volunteer their time to work on the environment and saving these precious resources. Several workers were arrested within the last few days with outstanding warrants for their arrest, including one for child molestation, according to FNC.

 BP has said it will use only trained workers and professionals to clean up the oil and wash oiled wildlife, adding to the deepening frustration over the government and BP's response. The workers also need special safety equipment, said BP spokesman Mark Proegler.

In another report:

Each day officials get an update of how many arrests were made for outstanding warrants, and how many illegal immigrants were detained. Wednesday alone, out of the 328 people screened, 17 people were turned away. There were 14 misdemeanor arrests, one felony arrest and two sex offenders. 

  And still the birds, turtles and wildlife die, soaked in oil, even though materials exist to clean them without damage.

  In his capacity as a one man job wrecking crew, Obama has appointed a commission of environmentalists to determine if and when drilling can continue.