Most incarcerated workers—more than 76 percent of those surveyed by the Bureau of Justice Statistics—are required to work or will face repercussions from their prison ranging from losing privileges to punishments like solitary confinement.
Despite that requirement, the vast majority of prisoners cannot afford basic necessities like soap or other hygiene products or medical care with wages earned from prison labor, according to a new report on incarcerated workers.
Captive Labor: Exploitation of Incarcerated Workers, a new report issued on June 15 by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), says families with an incarcerated loved one spend $2.9 billion a year to financially support their family members in prison
The report notes that many prisons charge for everything from phone calls to soap or basic medical care. Incarcerated workers may make nothing at all, and those states with set minimum wages range from one to five cents per hour with workers making on average between 13 and 52 cents, with the majority of even that small wage going to government fees paid back to the prison or court.
Most prison work isn’t skill building or marketable to new employers after release, either. Access to vocational training programs is limited — only a fifth of incarcerated people participate in vocational programs, and the rest, around 700,000 inmates are left will lower-paid work with non-transferrable skills. UNICOR, a program from Federal Prison Industries that offers higher wages and boasts about assisting offenders in “learning the skills necessary to successfully transition from convicted criminals to a law-abiding, contributing members of society,” has a waitlist of 25,000 people.
Waitlists for vocational programming in states across the country can climb into the thousands, with need far outpacing inmate numbers.
At the same time, prisons are benefiting hand over fist from incarcerated labor: the ACLU placed that value production at more than $2 billion in goods and $9 billion in prison maintenance services.
“We are saving [the prisons] millions of dollars and getting paid pennies in return,” inmate Latashia Millender told the report’s authors.
1 Comment
I am even more outraged than before after reading this article. For 3 1/2 years I am one of those family members paying outrageous prices for clothing, food, basic necessities, phone calls and video visits. I can barely survive on the outside. But I’d rather go hungry and do without so my son can live somewhat better.
The cats out of the bag on all this bulls!#t the government has Hid so well for too long.
But knowing change on any part of this prison injustice will never come, at least while I’m alive.
Being 59 and living merely for the day I can once again hug my son is the only hope I have for change.