Prisoner employment - they're hiring

[rn79870]

What Do Prisoners Make? NEWS: From Starbucks to Microsoft: a sampling of what US inmates make, and for whom By Caroline Winter July/August 2008 Issue

Tens of thousands of US inmates are paid from pennies to minimum wage—minus fines and victim compensation—for everything from grunt work to firefighting to specialized labor. Here's a sampling of what they make, and for whom.

Eating in: Each month, California inmates process more than 680,000 pounds of beef, 400,000 pounds of chicken products, 450,000 gallons of milk, 280,000 loaves of bread, and 2.9 million eggs (from 160,000 inmate-raised hens).

Starbucks subcontractor Signature Packaging Solutions has hired Washington prisoners to package holiday coffees (as well as Nintendo Game Boys). Confronted by a reporter in 2001, a Starbucks rep called the setup "entirely consistent with our mission statement."

Around the Big House: Texas inmates produce brooms and brushes, bedding and mattresses, toilets, sinks, showers, and bullwhips. Bullwhips?

Windows dressing: In the mid-1990s, Washington prisoners shrink-wrapped software and up to 20,000 Microsoft mouses for subcontractor Exmark (other reported clients: Costco and JanSport). "We don't see this as a negative," a Microsoft spokesman said at the time. Dell used federal prisoners for PC recycling in 2003, but stopped after a watchdog group warned that it might expose inmates to toxins.

Back to school: Texas and California inmates make dorm furniture and lockers, diploma covers, binders, logbooks, library book carts, locker room benches, and juice boxes.

Patriotic duties: Federal Prison Industries, a.k.a. Unicor, says that in addition to soldiers' uniforms, bedding, shoes, helmets, and flak vests, inmates have "produced missile cables (including those used on the Patriot missiles during the Gulf War)" and "wiring harnesses for jets and tanks." In 1997, according to Prison Legal News, Boeing subcontractor MicroJet had prisoners cutting airplane components, paying $7 an hour for work that paid union wages of $30 on the outside.

The law won: In Texas, prisoners make officers' duty belts, handcuff cases, and prison-cell accessories. California convicts make gun containers, creepers (to peek under vehicles), and human-silhouette targets.

A stitch in time: California inmates sew their own garb. In the 1990s, subcontractor Third Generation hired 35 female South Carolina inmates to sew lingerie and leisure wear for Victoria's Secret and JCPenney. In 1997, a California prison put two men in solitary for telling journalists they were ordered to replace "Made in Honduras" labels on garments with "Made in the USA."

Open wide: At California's prison dental laboratory, inmates produce a complete prosthesis selection, including custom trays, try-ins, bite blocks, and dentures.

Constructive criticism: Prisoners in for burglary, battery, drug and gun charges, and escape helped build a Wal-Mart distribution center in Wisconsin in 2005, until community uproar halted the program. (Company policy says, "Forced or prison labor will not be tolerated by Wal-Mart.")

On call: Its inmate call centers are the "best kept secret in outsourcing," Unicor boasts. In 1994, a contractor for GOP congressional hopeful Jack Metcalf hired Washington state prisoners to call and remind voters he was pro-death penalty. Metcalf, who prevailed, said he never knew.

[srellim234]

I'm all for prisoner employment, but I believe there should be some requirements.

The prison should make the prisoners available to the companies for at least minmum wage. Companies should not be allowed to profit by eliminating possible private sector jobs because they can get cheaper labor behind bars. The company outsources work to the prison as a contractor; the paycheck is issued by the prison. Deductions are the same as in the private sector (social security, income tax withheld, etc.) including some type of health insurance premium. Let H&R Block train a few to help with tax filing, paying their trainees the same way.

Health costs are killing the prison system as it is and we should allow some type of group health insurance behind bars that the taxpayers aren't stuck paying for. An additional 10-25% off the net is direct deposited into a state victims' restitution fund.

The inmate would have the other 75% to start life on the outside with, along with the training for a private sector job.

Side note: I find it laughable that Wal-Mart would take such a stance. They have no problem operating and buying things from third-world sweat shops.

[themadscientist]

Sorry, you are a prisoner, you get nothing. Bust rocks, sleep on the floor and eat ****, you earned it.

[rn79870]

I kind of like the opportunity it provides for the prisoner to make restitution to the victim. Take 1/3 for his room and board, 1/3 for the victim's restitution, and put 1/3 in an account that he can have on release.

[heliochrome85]

i know as of a few years ago, american airlines used to route their booking phone number to prisons. inmates would be booking your cruise, and trip to maui, from the comfort of their own cell. its the american dream!

[OriginalWheelman]

It used to be that you went to jail and you were not even considered a citizen. Now prisoners have all kinds of rights. We used to make them work for free, now we can't. Why? People. Idiot citizens who want felons to be coddled. Damn human rights nazis.

[srellim234]

Not coddle them.

Sitting in a cell they are off the streets but that's it. Sitting and sucking up taxpayers money to be there. Forcing them to work means they begin to reimburse the rest of us for their expenses. Let them work and pay for their own doctor bills, room & board, etc. Highways and railroads are falling apart in this country. Let the guys in prison work up a sweat rebuilding them. They will come out with some kind of a job skill when the sentence is over instead of nothing so they have to go right back to some crime to survive.

I also think the private compnies who provide the jobs should be required to pay the prisons a fair contract price based on wages commensurate with the job performed. The companies shouldn't be allowed to eliminate private sector jobs to profit at taxpayers expense by reimbursing the prisons at below fair wage or minimum wage prices.

[96Qowner]

Not coddle them.

Sitting in a cell they are off the streets but that's it. Sitting and sucking up taxpayers money to be there. Forcing them to work means they begin to reimburse the rest of us for their expenses. Let them work and pay for their own doctor bills, room & board, etc. Highways and railroads are falling apart in this country. Let the guys in prison work up a sweat rebuilding them. They will come out with some kind of a job skill when the sentence is over instead of nothing so they have to go right back to some crime to survive.

They learn a skill and a manufacturing process and the prison gets income to help feed and house them. Win-win.

[skylndrftr]

96...my only beef is that this really is forced labor.

if we want to put all these people in prison then we should be ready to pay for it. If they are working, the company should be paying the prison an equivalent wage to what they would pay someone on the outside. Subtract whatever the housign costs are and then pay the inmates. These guys get paid pennies per hour.

Wheelman, they aren't being coddled. As for your damn human rights comment I think thats out of place and remind you that that attitude is why the NSA is reading your an my post. If we treat them like people and help reform them then they won't come back at the 90% plus rates they do.

[srellim234]

It is not "forced" labor. Any more forced than my lack of a job on the outside. If I don't work and make money I don't have a roof over my head and I don't eat.

I would give the prisoner the option to work or not work. No work, no healthcare, and he can sit and rot in the cell with no TV, no other benefits. Give him the bare minimum as far as essentials (food, etc.). And no bank account of any type to start his life again when he's released.

Let the prisoner pay for his air conditioning, too. I can't afford to turn mine on. Why am I paying for his? Lack of air conditioning isn't going to kill him. Just make him uncomfortable, which is what prison should do.

[96Qowner]

Prison jobs are almost always voluntary - you can sit in your cell, or you can get out and work.

[skylndrftr]

As discussed in the other thread, prison should not just be abotu retribution and revenge. It should be about rehabilitation so that we don't see these people back in prison.

If this accomplishes the goal then great (I like the idea of having them do road repair). However companies should not be making a killing off of prison labor.

[dusred]

A few points:

1. I think prison labor should be based off of good behavior. If someone is a felon and is acting up, let him rot. I don't think it's fair (not that life's fair or anything) to say "let them sit and rot, they earned it". I think that applies to some cases only. Keep in mind that prisons are designed to help people think about what they have done wrong and to help them go strait once they get out. And of course there are exceptions.

2. Prisoners should not be paid a very high rate; if they are paid a good rate they will think it's great and want to come back. I would say $5.00 per hour is good. It is just enough to pay for their medical and a roof over their head and maybe have some left when they are set free.

3. I like the idea of having prisoners work on construction sites (under guard of course) but if it is going to effect the economy in that they are taking work from legit companies it will be taking jobs from law-abiding citizens. If they are working on a contracted job the Jail/Prison should be paid the full price of the job (just as any other contractor) and the money can be used to pay the large prison expenses and maybe even put some back into the system.

4. Any of you who have ever been in prison know that you would gladly work for free for the opportunity to get out of the place. The pay should be there to give the prisoners something to look forward to when they are released. From people I have talked to who have spent time in Jail the pay for something is nothing, but the privilege to get out of the cell is worth more than money.

5. Keep in mind that people Prison/Jail are not only there for doing acts of violence, but also for other things like Tax Evasion, ripping the government off. We won't get into ripping the government off but those kind of people are often there because they didn't keep a good record of their taxes and could not prove that the taxes were paid, and therefore get to serve time in Jail. Tax evasion charges are often as bad as rape charges, however tax evasion is often unintentional unlike rape.

Just a few points. Don't get me wrong. I don't think criminals should be treated as normal citizens but they should have some rights if they are well behaved and show signs of going strait after their time is served.

[elwesso]

I think a big problem in prisons is having nothing to do. I bet shear boredum accounts for many of the problems inmates have..

My company hires inmates to make parts for starters.. It works well for us, and it helps them.. I agree, they shoudlnt get paid much, and why woudl they? They really have free room/board, what do they need money for? $4/hour will go a long way toward a pack of smokes.

I think at the very least its a good way to keep the inmates occupied and from killing each other. Overall (of course there are exceptions) the point is to be a "correctional" facility...

[srellim234]

The company should not be allowed to pay less than minimum wage or whatever the going rate would be for that prison labor. By allowing a company to reimburse at below market rate for labor they are bypassing labor laws for profit. Keeping people who have done nothing wrong out of work.

People rail against all the jobs leaving the United States; it's because companies can make a buck buying cheap labor in foreign countries that don't have our labor standards. Paying for prison labor at less than what is required in regular life is outsourcing even more jobs to a cheap labor force.

Prisons already have the advantage of an available work force. It's a great work force that suits many types of jobs. Let the companies pay at least minimum wage and let the prisoners pay back the restitution and prison expenses out of their pay. Income taxes, too. Just like they will when they get out of prison. I have a feeling they won't have much left of that paycheck after that, anyway.

[elwesso]

i agree, i was just throwing that number out in jest, I think they should get minimum wage of whatever state they are in, which in Indiana is around 5.35.. I would think nation wide its more around $7, but I dont know.

[dusred]

I think the Prison should be paid minimum wage but not the prisoners. If there is a profit to be made by the cheap labor from prisoners it should be made by the prison that is holding them and not by the contractor.

[Encryptshun]

People forget that the charter for prisons is supposed to be either to keep them away from society forever or to rehabilitate them for reintroduction to it.

Teaching them the fundamental principles of work = reward is a key element of changing the culture and mindset away from the "if I want something, I just take it" to "if I need something, I should work for it". This plus job skills, plus restitution and R&B funding make this a good idea.