Don’t take the heading of this post as me saying prisoners shouldn’t be paid at all, I am just curious as to why the prisons even bother paying such a miniscule token amount. I mean, if they are willing to just a pay mediocre sum like 40c an hour, I would have thought they would have no qualms with paying nothing? Is there actually a minimum prison wage hidden somewhere in the laws that hasn’t been updated since the 13th amendment?
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Well, not paying people for work would be slavery.
It’s a way to encourage prisoners to do jobs. They get a small amount of money that can be spent on the commissary. Even if that’s a few dollars a day it adds up to allow them to purchase some small luxuries in their daily life.
I personally think that they should be paid at least the federal/state minimum wage.
They know they cam get away with it. People fail to realize that slavery still exist in the U.Sm when it comes to prison labor. When my mom was in prison she got paid $0.26/hr to work on a prison farm. She didn’t get min. Wage till she got a work release job. Then she was being paid by an actual business. Prisoners deserve a fair wage for their labor. People may also try to argue that prison labor is voluntary. In reality its more voluntold and do it or face punishment.
Why would anyone work if there was no pay?
It’s not like they have rent and car payments and phone bills to pay. They money is so they can buy ramen and honeybuns from commissary.
Because it’s a way to perpetuate slavery. It’s no coincidence that such a large percentage of Black people are incarcerated in this country.
Money for commissary, entertainment, clothing, whatever else they can obtain. Some people don’t have others to send them money to get extras, so they work those jobs to get paid.
A way to pass the time too I guess.
Often, prison jobs aren’t like real jobs. You don’t have the same number of hours or responsibilities. It’s more of a privilege to have a job in prison. It’s something to focus on. In prison, there isn’t much opportunity to legally spend money outside of the store. If you are making minimum wage, you can basically buy out the store. Destroying the prison economy. This might be hard to understand.
They could pay them a much higher wage, and them charge them for their accomadations and meals.
Don’t kill the messenger, anyone: I am only trying to guess answers to OP’s question. I say guess because I didn’t create the situation so I don’t know why it exists.
Why pay at all: Incentive. Something they can earn and build up and buy snacks or items in the prison commissary (a small shop.) Also: a sense of purpose and pride, even if it sounds odd: in prison *everything begins to be relative*. (For instance, a cigarette or a stale donut is currency there; not so much outside prison.)
Why pay so little: Because prison is supposed to be punitive among other things. It’s not supposed to be a place people are rewarded for crime. It’s enough (work and wage) to make their life a little bit more guided or pleasant than it would be without any ability to work or earn. But it’s not meant to be a way to profit.
I have mixed feelings about it because the labor laws for prisoners reportedly vary from labor laws for everyone else. But I haven’t studied into the topic enough to say anything more.
So: Section 1 of the Amendment provides: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Simply put: Incarcerated persons have no constitutional rights in this arena; they can be forced to work as punishment for their crimes.
It’s a way for the state to obtain cheap labor… My little brother is in prison and makes $.13 an hour to make license plates… They say are prisons are not for profit but it’s full of shit politics. That’s why you’ll see somebody getting 10 years for a DUI from smoking weed but a child molester will get off in two years… It’s kind of sick. I’m referencing Arizona in particular I know each state is different…We in America now incarcerate more than 2.2 million people, with the largest prison population in the world, and the second highest incarceration rate per capita. Our prison populations remain racially skewed. With few exceptions, inmates are required to work if cleared by medical professionals at the prison. Punishments for refusing to do so include solitary confinement, loss of earned good time, and revocation of family visitation. For this forced labor, prisoners earn pennies per hour, if anything at all.
Not only this I am limited to how much I can purchase for my loved one that is incarcerated I am allowed to spend $100 every 60 days to buy things from his commissary but let me tell you a pack of $.29 Ramen noodles is $2 a deodorant that should cost four dollars is around $12 and so on, so that money does not stretch very far and it’s sick. I do like that technology has increased the kind of communication that we have… They are allowed tablets and he can email back-and-forth but again if you have loss of privileges as an inmate which comes very easy you don’t get this… they even take away his phone calls.
Real/boring answer? The Geneva Convention set a minimum wage for POW’s. No real mechanism to update that and it hasn’t been done manually, so it’s basically the same as it always has been.
While the wage they get is low, don’t forget they are also getting room and board provided… so technically, you could factor in that the prison is deducting their food costs, rent, etc. and giving them the remaining amount to put into their commissary account.
Because they legally have to be paid something.