Quote:
Originally posted by RawAlex@Nov 15 2004, 10:35 AM
Colin, creating and forcing inmates to work really serves no good for anyone. People who would have done the work on the outside lose their jobs, and inmates get paid next to nothing for their labors. There is VERY little upside, especially because almost anything can be turned into a shank... which creates danger in the jails.
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Why should I work to pay for the room/board of a prisoner? If the state pays for the prisoner that means that every working person in the US contributes to a fund that pays $30k/year for each prisoner. Any part of that which is paid as a result of the prisoner's work is a decreased burden on the tax payer. The number of jobs is not zero sum. It's a NET benefit for prisoners to pay their way instead of "us" paying their way. That's the choice. Either WE pay or THEY pay.
Prison labor should be available in a bidding system. Let's get the sweat shops rolling. Hell, we could preferentially permit companies which currently outsource assembly work and such to foreign countries into the first round of bidding.
But prison labor is already a reality. There are already companies that specalize in prison labor. US companies already use such labor and it saves them a lot of money. It is just not ubiquitous.