MISTRIAL Inmates strike in prisons nationwide over 'slave labor' working conditions, Sept 2016

[Tillicum]

This poor guy lost use of his phone and email for 30 days. How can it be safe to let them have phone and email access?

 

[bluesneakers]

This poor guy lost use of his phone and email for 30 days. How can it be safe to let them have phone and email access?

I don't know. Don't they monitor everything?

 

[Tillicum]

They should monitor. Still it could be like closing the barn door after the horse got out IMO.

 

[SophieRose]

I think it could be interesting to make the prison work a different kind of financial model. If private companies want to come in to a prison, the workers should be paid minimum wage. With that minimum wage, the workers then pay a room and board amount specified in a contract with the prisoner. The prison workers could create a savings account that they use for commissary or child support and restitution from additional monies made. If prisoners use offered opportunities to learn a trade, they can get raises and increase savings. Without training and real work experience these prison workers will probably just reoffend.

I don't necessarily think this works for sex offenders, murderers and highly violent criminals but I do think a living wage would add to sense of self as they pay for their keep (at least, partially). We need something new here. The revolving door does not help anyone.

https://psmag.com/from-our-prison-to-your-dinner-table-10d94a05edca#.ri6ensj3n

The prison industries that sell goods that reach consumers themselves, as Colorado’s do, are a small fraction of prison labor as a whole. Similar to the state-use system, when goods remain in state, the regulations are relatively lax. But when sold beyond state lines, they fall under a federal arrangement called the Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP, better known simply as PIE). PIE, which has existed by statute since 1979 and employs inmates in about 35 state prison systems, stipulates that laborers must receive prevailing wages, which are theoretically no lower than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. But after taxes, fees, mandatory savings, and money confiscated for restitution or other court-ordered payments, few prisoners receive more than $3 per hour.

PIE programs are, in most respects, the ones most carefully managed with an eye to inmate rehabilitation and positive social outcomes. The prisoners are supposed to learn skills that make them employable on the outside (in capacities other than as, say, drug dealers or hitmen). Some studies of PIE programs suggest that they can give inmates a boost in their work outcomes outside prison. A 2010 paper by economist Robynn Cox, now at Spelman College, found that PIE participation may help inmates get jobs faster after their release and increase their earnings.

 

[fedfan4life]

For those of you spewing hatefullness, I seriously hope that you never find yourself in a position where someone you love does something stupid and ends up in prison.

 

[Inthedetails]

It is worthwhile to question who is benefitting from the labor of the prisoners.

Paying off a debt to society through low-level labor during a prison sentences is reasonable. Learning skills is reasonable. Earning far below minimum wage is reasonable (room and board are already being paid, after all, and no one should "profit" from crime).

However, it's also reasonable to ask who is benefitting from the labor. If a private company is benefitting, that needs to be examined. That is indeed "slave labor" as opposed to prison labor.

jmo

 

[bluesneakers]

Inmates in Upper Peninsula set fire, damage housing units

Inmates at Kinross Correctional Facility in the Upper Peninsula turned violent Saturday and trashed their housing units, starting a small fire, smashing sinks, and breaking at least one window, Corrections Department spokesman Chris Gautz confirmed.

A spokeswoman for the Michigan Corrections Organization, the union representing corrections officers, said the incident was even more serious than that, with multiple fires set and two housing units left unlivable.

Other issues raised were wages paid for prions jobs -- 74 cents to $3.34 per day -- and access to the commutation process, he said. Although the Level 1 and Level 2 security classifications for Kinross prisoners are low-security, many of them are serving life sentences for murder and other violent crimes.

 

[bluesneakers]

After unrest, Fla. prisons report no new uprisings

Florida officials have not confirmed that the uprisings here are related to the national movement.

The disturbances began Wednesday, with a siege at Holmes Correctional, in Bonifay, Fla. More than 400 inmates took control of at least five of the seven dorms before the situation was brought under control by riot squad officers using tear gas.

On Friday, the revolts continued at Gulf and Mayo correctional institutions. There were no reported injuries, according to the Department of Corrections.

...

In Florida, inmates do most of the maintenance and labor to run the institutions, including mowing grass, repairs to facilities, cleaning and other day-to-day jobs. They receive no pay for these chores, but do earn “gain time,” which is a certain amount of time off their sentences.

However, because the state has a law that forces inmates to serve out 85 percent of their sentences, they get a limited amount of gain time — no matter how much work they perform. Some inmates maintain that they are forced to work long shifts without a break.

Inmates also work in communities performing general labor and road work. For some of these jobs, they are paid — but less than $1 a day.

In Fiscal Year 2013-14, the Department of Corrections’ Community Work Squad inmates performed almost 5.4 million hours of work, valued at more than $76 million, and after costs, provided the state with a net cost savings/value added of approximately $45 million, according to FDC’s website.

 

[human]

It is worthwhile to question who is benefitting from the labor of the prisoners.

Paying off a debt to society through low-level labor during a prison sentences is reasonable. Learning skills is reasonable. Earning far below minimum wage is reasonable (room and board are already being paid, after all, and no one should "profit" from crime).

However, it's also reasonable to ask who is benefitting from the labor. If a private company is benefitting, that needs to be examined. That is indeed "slave labor" as opposed to prison labor.

jmo

Health care as well is provided. Training needs to be done for those who will be released. But learning low level skills is hardly worthwhile. What are some solutions as to what can be done re jobs and training?

 

[Inthedetails]

Health care as well is provided. Training needs to be done for those who will be released. But learning low level skills is hardly worthwhile. What are some solutions as to what can be done re jobs and training?

I agree that learning marketable skills is the best option, but I have to disagree that low-level labor isn't worthwhile. Even low-level work gives structure to the day in prison and gives inmates something to do. Low-level work is not especially meaningful (though it can be), but work is better than being idle. Being idle is bad for physical and mental health, as well as posing more opportunities for causing trouble.

jmo

I don't have any solutions, though I think the best long-term solutions will be looking at childhood. Prevention is better than remedy. Easy to say, hard to do.

 

[bluesneakers]

I agree that learning marketable skills is the best option, but I have to disagree that low-level labor isn't worthwhile. Even low-level work gives structure to the day in prison and gives inmates something to do. Low-level work is not especially meaningful (though it can be), but work is better than being idle. Being idle is bad for physical and mental health, as well as posing more opportunities for causing trouble.

jmo

I don't have any solutions, though I think the best long-term solutions will be looking at childhood. Prevention is better than remedy. Easy to say, hard to do.

I'm with you on the first part and I'm really with you on the prevention part. It would also be helpful to not use the prison system as a mental health institution.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Inmates in Upper Peninsula set fire, damage housing units

Michigan prison riot trial ends in hung jury

 

[LietKynes]

Damn rights they should be put to work! I see no problem with making prison life suck. It should suck. And for the worse criminals, the violent ones, the murderers and rapists and child molesters it should suck even more.

Having said that, there are too many in American prisons that should not be there. There are literally thousands in the American prison system doing years and sometimes decades on what I would consider minor drug offences. Free those ones and make the despicable ones suffer a little. JMO

Emphasis mine

Agreed.

The most dangerous people behind bars are (imo) murderers, rapists, child abusers. Monsters who have shown that they're not fit to be walking amongst us.
People like AJ Freund's bio-donors.

Any money they 'earn' should go towards restitution or their own room and board.