Prison Industry

[Engywook]

This thread on the origin of license plates has inspired more questions, at least for me.

• What other goods and services commonly come from prisons, that eventually reach the Outside?
• What are prisoners paid?
• Does the amount of money they make depend on the jobs they do?
• Is there such a thing as a prison 401K or pension plan? If so, are prisoners who will theoretically never be released eligible?

[paperbackwriter]

The federal program is called Unicor. Unicor has a number of industrial segments: Clothing & Textiles, Electronics, Fleet Management & Vehicular, Industrial Products, Office Furniture, Recycling, and Services. The consumer for most of these products and services is the federal government itself.

Prisoners are paid, but court-ordered restitution, fines, etc. are deducted. In 2002, $3M of prisoner earnings went towards this. Their wage was raised in 2002 to $1.15/hr.

There is no retirement plan. “Retirement” for these folks means release from incarceration. There is, however, an Inmate Transistion Branch, which attempts to help former inmates find employment after release.

The Unicor website will probably answer a lot of questions.

[Rube_E.Tewesday]

This is one of those things that is going to vary quite widely across jurisdictions. I know that at my last job, in Nunavut, all of our office furniture was made in Canadian federal prisons, and was marked with the brand name “CorCan” (for Corrections Canada). My understanding is that in Canada the pay is in the neighbourhood of $5 a day, but I don’t have a decent cite for that.

[yabob]

@Engywook

• What other goods and services commonly come from prisons, that eventually reach the Outside?

Many and varied. For instance, here’s a list from North Carolina:

http://www.doc.state.nc.us/EPRISE/timeline.htm

Food processing and metal fabrication industries are popular, but lots of other things as well.

• What are prisoners paid?

• Does the amount of money they make depend on the jobs they do?

Nowhere near what they would be making for a similar job outside, in fact, usually nowhere near what would be a livable wage by any stretch of the imagination. This is why unions are often among the most vocal critics of prison industries - they yell that, in effect, the government is sponsoring very cheap scab labor to the detriment of the workers they represent. The government can counter them and prisoner advocate critics by saying that what they are doing is vocational training for the prisoner who is eventually to be released. Note that students in vocational training institutions may produce something that is sold on the open marketplace as well, and far from getting paid, they may actually be paying the institution for the privelege of doing it through tuition.

This South Carolina description is probably pretty typical:

http://www.state.sc.us/scdc/PrisonIndustries/PrisonIndustries.htm

Yes, if it doesn’t fall under minimum wage guidelines, they are paying a token wage - $0.35 to $0.85 per hour in a “traditional” program (like making license plates), but they also have this:

In the PIE Program strict guidelines must be followed which require that inmates voluntarily work in the program and acknowledge that taxes, victim compensation and room and board will be deducted from their gross pay. Inmates in this program are paid the prevailing wage of the local area for the particular jobs they perform. Also, P.I. cannot displace currently employed workers in the community. Since this work is manufacturing and goods are placed in interstate commerce, the PIE guidelines must be followed. Currently hardwood flooring, apparel, computer wire harnesses, furniture and faucet handles are being produced. Pay ranges from $5.50 to $6.50 per hour.

By the time the prisoner has those deductions taken out, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are back to $0.35 to $0.85 / hour again.

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

$0.35 an hour? That’s a lot of money!

In my institution, our inmates may make as little at $0.04 an hour! At a few places in the state, the most desirable jobs are the ones that pay $1.00 an hour.

[tanookie]

My brother made a dollar a day - although he just got a raise so I think he makes $1.25 now. And most of that goes into his account for when he gets released. The rest goes to buy toiletries and shoes and stamps and paper. He also paid for his booking.

He does mostly janitorial type work although he recently started doing sheet metal fabrication.

[friedo]

@yabob

they [unions] yell that, in effect, the government is sponsoring very cheap scab labor to the detriment of the workers they represent. The government can counter them and prisoner advocate critics by saying that what they are doing is vocational training for the prisoner who is eventually to be released.

That’s also why most prison labor programs are not allowed to compete with private business, and may only sell to the government. Hence the prediliction for producing licence plates and office furniture.

I read an interesting article recently about a guy in prison in Texas who makes fancy leather boots for government officials.

[yabob]

@friedo

That’s also why most prison labor programs are not allowed to compete with private business, and may only sell to the government. Hence the prediliction for producing licence plates and office furniture.

I read an interesting article recently about a guy in prison in Texas who makes fancy leather boots for government officials.

Highway signs are another example. Doesn’t completely stop the critics, their point being that if the work wasn’t being done by prisoners, the government would have to contract out to private business. It’s a loss of business, hence a loss of jobs. Personally, I mostly side with the government - you might as well have the prisoners do something useful, and making license plates doesn’t qualify as cruel and unusual punishment.