My toast tongs were purchased there.
The inmates who make those items are, by prison standards, paid pretty well, about $3 an hour. Which is low even by the dismal minimum wage standards for outside-of-prison jobs in the worst-paying states (Georgia, Wyoming: $5.15/hour).
About 1,000 prisoners in California fight wildfires for a couple of bucks a day. On the plus side, they're not sitting around a prison cell, and they get to shave time off their sentences. The downside: this is incredibly risky business. They are, of course, developing a skill, but California laws prohibit these men from becoming full-time firefighters once they've completed their sentences. They can still volunteer or take seasonal gigs, but don't have the opportunity to take a secure job with benefits.
Ugh!
And, of course, most of us are aware that prisoners stamp out license plates.
But they do a lot of other things. Prisoners work for private, profit making companies, e.g., staffing call centers. (Some Victoria's Secret undies used to be stitched by prisoners.) Prisoners may work for state-owned corporations, like the woodworking center in Maine. Or for correctional agencies. (In Massachusetts, prisoners - gallingly, if you ask me - manufacture some Blue Lives Matter gear...)
There are an awful - emphasis on the awful - lot of prisoners out there working for next to nothing and, in some cases, nothing. The average pay across the country is $.86 an hour. (Guessing game: name two of the five states that force prisoners to work for zip.)
A report published by the American Civil Liberties Union in June 2022 found about 800,000 prisoners out of the 1.2 million in state and federal prisons are forced to work, generating a conservative estimate of $11bn annually in goods and services while average wages range from 13 cents to 52 cents per hour. Five states – Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi and Texas – force prisoners to work without pay. (Source: The Guardian)
Bet you got at least one state right, you good guesser, you.
The stories of those forced into labor are grim. One person reported that he worked all day for a stamp.
The idea of prisoners working isn't a bad one. Nice if they can make some money and maybe even develop a useful skill.
(If you're wondering why a prisoner, who's given 'three hots and a cots' courtesy of the state, needs money, those incarcerated use the money to shop in the prison commissary for food that they actually want to eat, for toiletries that don't have "prison-issue" written all over them, for pens and papers, and other small items. They can pay for phone calls, which are often charged at an unconscionable rate. They may want to send money home to their family - or help payoff the compensation they owe their victims. They may want to save up to have a little nest egg they can use if and when they're released.)
Given that the 13th Amendment outlawed slavery, you may well be wondering how states can get away with not paying people for their labor.
...to the surprise of many, the Thirteenth Amendment includes an exception clause that has been understood throughout history to allow slavery and involuntary servitude to be used as punishment for crime. During Reconstruction, this understanding encouraged the criminalization, incarceration, and re-enslavement of Black people. (Source: End the Exemption)In many places, those who refuse the offer of meagerly or even non-paid work end up in solitary, or losing family visit or phone call privileges. They may be beaten, or denied parole.
There's a movement afoot in Congress, spearheaded by Sen. Jeff Merkley or Oregon and Rep. Nikema Williams of Georgia, to pass the Abolition Amendment. But the bill, despite having a reasonably hefty list of co-sponsors in the House (175 members, including 5 Republicans) and 14 co-sponsors in the Senate, hasn't made it out of committee and onto the floor for a vote. Yet.
I don't believe that prison should be a pleasure dome, but prisoners should be treated humanely. They should be afforded opportunities to learn, and to earn - and to earn something that more closely resembles a just wage than zero an hour. Being locked up, it seems to me, is plenty of punishment. Folks sitting around 24/7 with nothing to do isn't a good look. Neither is paying them a paltry and insulting amount of money.
I'm no expert on the carceral system, but I do volunteer in a shelter that provides services to those experiencing homelessness. And a lot of these folks have criminal records.
Beyond name and birthdate, I don't have access to any of our guests' files. But a lot of them aren't shy about mentioning that they've been in prison. Some tell me that they just got out, and need some new duds. Others tell me they don't want to use the soap we usually distribute because it's sourced from the company that's the largest provider of prison toiletries. So I know that a lot of the folks I hand a toothbrush to have seen the inside of a prison or jail cell.
Some of the folks we serve are young, others not-so-young. Many have multiple issues. Yes, they've been in prison, but they're also suffering from mental health problems or substance abuse issues or dealing with physical health challenges. An awful lot of them - disproportionately so - are Black or brown.
Most of them - if they're young enough, if they're healthy enough - want to work. And that was probably true when they were behind bars.
We need to stop exploiting the folks who are doing time. If they're working while on the inside, they should be compensated for it.
Time to get rid of the slavery exception.
No comments:
Post a Comment