Why are 750,000+ American prisoners working when 15+ million ordinary Americans aren't?

[wickerwoman]

"In 2000, 53 percent of state and federal prisoners (48 percent and 100 percent, respectively) who were eligible and able to work had a work assignment."

http://reentrypolicy.org/Report/PartII/ChapterII-B/PolicyStatement16/ResearchHighlight16-1

"Over 3/4 of a million incarcerated are currently employed, more than any Fortune 500 business... Inmate Ayana Cole always dreamed of being a fashion designer. Now imprisoned in Oregon, she is paid .45 cents an hour to turn out "prison blues" jeans. The designer denims are sold in high end Beverly Hills boutiques, carrying price tags upwards of $350.00... Donovan Thomas earns .21 cents per hour manufacturing high end office equipment which can be found in some of Los Angeles most plush office suites."

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/199622

There are approximately 2 million inmates in state, federal and private prisons throughout the country... "no other society in human history has imprisoned so many of its own citizens."... Statistics reveal that the United States holds 25% of the world's prison population, but only 5% of the world's people."

"the federal prison industry produces 100% of all military helmets, ammunition belts, bullet-proof vests, ID tags, shirts, pants, tents, bags, and canteens. Along with war supplies, prison workers supply 98% of the entire market for equipment assembly services; 93% of paints and paintbrushes; 92% of stove assembly; 46% of body armor; 36% of home appliances; 30% of headphones/microphones/speakers; and 21% of office furniture."

"Who is investing? At least 37 states have legalized the contracting of prison labor by private corporations that mount their operations inside state prisons. The list of such companies contains the cream of U.S. corporate society: IBM, Boeing, Motorola, Microsoft, AT&T, Wireless, Texas Instrument, Dell, Compaq, Honeywell, Hewlett-Packard, Nortel, Lucent Technologies, 3Com, Intel, Northern Telecom, TWA, Nordstrom's, Revlon, Macy's, Pierre Cardin, Target Stores, and many more... Just between 1980 and 1994, profits went up from *$392 million to $1.31 billion*. Inmates in state penitentiaries generally receive the minimum wage for their work, but not all; in Colorado, they get about $2 per hour, well under the minimum. And in privately-run prisons, they receive as little as 17 cents per hour for a maximum of six hours a day, the equivalent of $20 per month. The highest-paying private prison is CCA in Tennessee, where prisoners receive 50 cents per hour for what they call "highly skilled positions." At those rates, it is no surprise that inmates find the pay in federal prisons to be very generous. There, they can earn $1.25 an hour and work eight hours a day, and sometimes overtime. They can send home $200-$300 per month."

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8289

[JDPriestly]

1. Slave labor.

And we taxpayers pay the prison guards and the costs of building and maintaining the prisons if not the food and health care for the prisoners while private industry uses them as slaves. This is shameful.

[Citizen Worker]

12. Yes, it is slave labor and a great illustration of the republican mantra

popularized by Newtie Gingrich, the cost/benefit analysis. This is where the working class is headed with Labor "flexibility."

[GoCubsGo]

19. It's only bad when the Chinese do it.

:sarcasm:

[denbot]

2. Yeah, let's see how many people line up to be imprisoned for an 8 cent an hour job.

Oh the humanity!!!

[wickerwoman]

3. Do you think there might be something of a connection

between the disappearance of manufacturing jobs in the US and the fact that prisons are allowed to employee people in manufacturing jobs for .08 cents an hour?

Do you think using prisoners for cheap labor provides an incentive or disincentive to keep people in prison? To create new prisoners? Would you support early release on good behavior of prisoners whose work is a major source of income for both you and your institution?

Do you find it ethical to present people with the alternative of working for .08 an hour or sitting in solitary confinement all day?

If prison labor is justified as "teaching essential skills" why is it also justified by saying it doesn't compete with the real workforce?

What percentage of those 750,000 people wouldn't have ended up in prison in the first place if they could have found a real job outside?

[denbot]

6. Many people robbing banks think that work is for "lames".

I know and have know quite a few felons. During their "run and gun" days they were mostly supporting drug habits, and had yet to learn how to live like the rest of us lames. I have never once met an armed robber, or mid-level or higher dope slinger to did it because it was the only way to make a buck.

They all had reasons, none that I know included the "job of last resort" kind.

[Hawkowl]

4. We are the 21st Century Nazi's

Or Fascists if you prefer.

[napi21]

5. I agree that .08 cents/hr is insane, but I also think it's a good idea to

employ prisoners in a job. It helps pay for their incarceration, keeps them busy, and in many cases, teaches them a trade. It's a good idea.

[wickerwoman]

8. I'm all for job training for prisoners too

:hi:

But this is straight-up exploitation in my book and *very* hard to justify in the current economic climate.

I've never hurt anyone in my life, never stolen a penny, never taken drugs, never driven drunk. I've obeyed all the laws (even the stupid ones). I have numerous job skills and two degrees and the only reason I'm not homeless right now is that I leveraged my only remaining asset (good credit) to get student loans for a third degree.

So why should the US government be finding jobs for rapists, gang-bangers and petty thieves when I and 14,999,999 of my peers don't have work and can't compete with someone making .17 cents an hour because taxpayers pay for their housing, food, clothes and medical care?

[cynatnite]

9. Well, it's like this...

Most of them don't have an education for one. Also, there are usually a lot of other factors that come into play that are too numerous to go into.

No matter their reasons, they commit a crime and get sent to prison. We've got two choices here. Either just lock them and let them out without any skills or a reason to improve themselves or...

We can lock them up, train them for a job, and let them out in hopes they will take that and go get a job rather than go out and commit another crime. That equates to saving money and lives.

It's called REHABILITATION.

[wickerwoman]

10. "I'm all for job training for prisoners too"

:hi:

Choice three: Stop locking people up for non-violent pot related offenses (1 in 6 federal prisoners). Get rid of the ridiculous three-strikes and you're out law. Question why the US locks up more and a greater percentage of its citizens than any civilization in the world ever. Get drug addicts into rehab. Get the mentally ill into appropriate care.

The solution to crime is not union-busting. What's the point of teaching someone job skills so they can go out in the world and find that the only person doing that job is the prisoner that replaced them?

[cynatnite]

11. Well, yeah...I agree about the non-violent pot related offenses...

I also agree with more rehab, too. But they have to have skills. How responsible are we if we don't even attempt to rehabilitate these people?

So, are you suggesting we just lock them and let them out with ZERO job skills? Do you want a criminal living near you to have a job or be jobless?

[wickerwoman]

13. No,

I think we should fund training programs and GED courses.

Sewing jeans six hours a day is not a training program, especially if you're paying the prisoner .45 cents and selling the jeans for $350.

I completely support teaching *real* skills to prisoners and supporting them extensively through the process of finding jobs at the end of their term including work placement programs, apprenticeships, mentoring, etc.

What I don't support is giving them a (non)choice of doing brainless, repetitive manufacturing work for .17 cents an hour or sitting in solitary confinement. And I don't support companies being allowed to contract significant amounts of their manufacturing jobs with prisons when they have absolutely no intention of hiring any of those people at real wages when they get out regardless of all of their new "skills".

[Fumesucker]

18. Given that manufacturing jobs are disappearing at an astounding rate..

Training a prisoner in a manufacturing skill is almost worse than no training at all, since it takes away a job that a non-inmate could be doing.

The chances of a released prisoner getting a manufacturing job vary from nil to extremely slim.

[Prometheus Bound]

7. The prison industry in the United States: big business or a new form of slavery?

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8289

[slay]

14. Prisons-for-profit. Dick Cheney has stock in um

or owns some or whatever - he's got his finger in that pie - where it PAYS to keep people in prison. For profit prisons MUST be outlawed

[eShirl]

15. indentured servitude

[druidity33]

16. just wait...

Debtor's prisons are coming to a state near you! It's only a matter of time before they start locking up people who can't pay their bills anymore.

:(

[Brickbat]

17. Because low wages means big profits, that's why. And the argument that this is good training for

when they get to the outside is disingenuous. How many of them are hired at full wage when they get out? What kind of jobs are waiting for them?

[uncommon]

20. $0.21 - $0.45 - $2 per hour and you don't understand why?

Minimum wage is already slave wages - never mind this.

[wickerwoman]

21. It was a rhetorical question.

:hi:

[Joe Chi Minh]

22. Wow! What a good question.