^see topic title^
For one thing, there’s generally no expectation that the inmate is going to have to pay for the necessities of life out of his or her prison wages.
Because if we don’t give them anything, they won’t do anything without being beaten. If we give them minimum wage, people complain that they are living for free, costing society money, and don’t deserve to be paid. Somewhere in all that is some concept of rehabilitation, but that rarely comes up in the process of deciding how much prisoners get paid. I think we pay the minimum amount necessary to get prisoner to do work which would otherwise cost society more to be done by non-prisoners. There are probably corruption factors in some particular cases also.
Inmates get stripped of many rights that other people have simply because they are in prison and that is part of the cost of being convicted for certain crimes. Minimum wage laws don’t apply to inmates because there are other laws that say they don’t. That should be self-explanatory.
There are other reasons why they don’t get paid minimum wage as well. Working in prison is considered a privilege of its own but it is a good idea to pay them a small amount of money for it so that they can buy small things for themselves that aren’t provided like certain snacks, phone cards, and maybe cigarettes if they are allowed. It teaches keeps them involved with setting small goals, budgeting, and saving money. Paying minimum wage for prison jobs probably isn’t the best idea anyway. Even minimum wage adds up quickly when you have all the basics provided to you and you can’t go anywhere to spend it. Having a lot of free money flowing in an intra-prison economy is not a good thing. Some prisoners are really good everything from extortion to bribery so giving them access to normal amounts of money with nothing to do with their time but plot isn’t usually the best idea.
Well, the prisoners are getting room and board provided to them. People making minimum wage on the outside have to pay for housing and food out of that wage, so it’s not unreasonable to expect prisoners to do the same.
Prisons do bill prisoners for room and board sometimes. Are these the same prisons that have workers not making minimum wage?
The Fair Labor Standards Act (the law that establishes minimum wage) does not apply to prisoners. So the main reason prisoners don’t make minimum wage, is that the minimum wage law says so.
I think perhaps your question is a philosophical one, however. The reason prisoners don’t get minimum wage is that for one, the idea of a prison becoming self-sustaining off the labor of the prisoners is just about as old as the American penal system and for two, the work is part of their punishment – they can be made to work without any pay at all, actually.
Note that another law, called the Ashurst-Sumners Act requires prisoners to be paid in parity with free workers – including if it is more than minimum wage – if the prisoners are making some good that moves in interstate commerce. That law applies to a fractionally small percentage of incarcerated workers though, because most do not produce goods that move in interstate commerce.
That’s why the stereotypical (and partially true) prison product is license plates- by definition, they would have no interstate commerce applicability.
Beats me. I had never heard of a prison billing prisoners before. What does such a prison do with a destitute inmate who will not work?
yes, you can be billed for your room and expenses and such. It’s also common for victims to attach the prisoner’s wages as well.
Prisons canl bill you for everything you do. Of course no one expects payment, but the bills remain in case the prisoner comes into cash somehow.
But some prisons used to pay decent wages. Prisoners were sourced for collection agencies and cold call telemarketing. They would take home pay about $200 a month. Not all was pay, some pay some commission. But most of these dried up, due to concern about convicts having access to personal information.
They will make you work or you go on punishment and work. So why not do it and get paid. You clean floors and get a buck a day. You refuse and go into punishment and now clean floors for nothing and get a knock back in your file. In worse case you could get solitary for repeated refusals.
Note that the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, says:
Bolding mine.
Therefore involuntary servitude is permissible in punishment of a crime. They can make you work, and don’t have to pay you anything.
I think it rather sad we pay prisoners in Colorado about .60 a day to work. How many of those men have children? Maybe want to better their lives upon exiting?
From the 13th amendment of the constitution.
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States . . .”
Good answer.
As callous as it may sound, so what?
There are plenty of free people with children to support who might need a little money to make their lives better than it currently is. We don’t do much for them either, so why prioritize a convicted criminal over them?
I don’t see how the state has a legal or ethical obligation to provide more than room, board, and maybe an opportunity for a small bit of spending money (and even that last one is clearly debatable).
There are educational opportunities in many prisons that provide some way to help them better their lives upon exiting. And many programs that help transition to life outside prison as well.
If someone commits a crime and is convicted, it’s hard to feel too sorry for them.
This argument has been used to justify legitimate inequalities in the past. I don’t think it’s particularly valid.
Thanks for the answers!
By this reasoning, shouldn’t prisons be unethical, since they infringe on an inmate’s personal liberty?
It’s a pretty generally accepted tenant that convicted criminals are stripped of certain rights as a result. I don’t see how their wages are categorically different.
I was not aware that there were specific laws exempting minimum wage law from applying to prisoners, as referenced above by Shagnasty.
It’s tenet, not tenant. Sorry to nitpick, but it’s a pet peeve.