Prison labor: good or bad idea?

Pink Honey

I'm afraid that this is a great idea, and yes, it is right for corporations to profit from prison labor because that is what America is all about, enterprise, the good old U.S.A. And I am proud to be an American star and a u.s.a. celebrity in my own rights better known as Lou Canou a.k.a. R.M. PinkFeet. I used to be in prison and believe me, I would have loved to have had a job to work at to feel good about myself being industrious and productive, and seriously on this one, I was released on 11/29/07 on a Wednesday for terrorist threat and I learned my lesson after serving an entire 8 years and 3 months and that's no joke, and you can take that to the bank, so these two questions are fantastic because if I could have made some crumbs for the giant corporations who get the peanut butter cookie, jam and jelly with the bread, I would have been ecstatic to have been able to work instead of just moping around with the criminal element. Bam!

meathookcook

Terrible idea. It makes me crazy to know that there are some prisons who allow convicts to work for mail order companies and have access to peoples credit card numbers. There should be plenty of work to do around the prison if they want to keep them busy.

DW's Mood?Indigo?

I think prison labor is a good idea from a work ethic standpoint, but corporations shouldn't profit from it. Any profits from it should go to something more useful like preventing crime in the first place.

Jay M

Corporations should not be allowed to use prison labor. The state itself however should abuse the labor process for every bead of sweat it can. Crimes that violate victims rights (which are ALL crimes with victims involved) should be punishable by a labor camp prison term.
Why should the state be forced to pay high labor charges to clean parks and roads?
Let the inmates do it and pay into their victims relief funds for restitution.
It is time to take the enjoyment OUT of prisons, and make inmates useful.

Goose&Tonic

Prison labor should be benefitting the community that is paying for the room and board of the prisoner. Meaning, prisoners should perform public service duties like cleaning, painting, light construction, assembling, etc for the cities and towns surrounding the prison.

Corporations should not profit from this UNLESS the same corporations want to take over all costs associated with holding prisoners such as facilities maintenance, insurance, healthcare, feeding, security, etc. If a corporation wants to take that duty on and remove the prison from the taxpayers purse, I'm all for that.

Starla_C

Great idea! Gives the inmates the opportunity to earn a little money and provide valuable services to society. They are still human beings and deserve the opportunity to give something back.

T S

Why not? They profit from just about everything else, including war. Plus it gives the prisoners something productive to do.

tlbs101

In general, yes.

1. The prisoners must keep some level of activity, so a job is a good thing (inside the prison walls, of course).

2. The prisoners gave up certain rights as citizens, and as members of society when they were convicted of their crimes, so semi-slave labor is not out-of-the-question.

3. The types of labor performed today are far more humane than true "hard labor" camps and chain-gangs of the last century

â™«Rock'n'Robâ™«

I don't think corporations should profit from prison labor. People that own a business can't get work if the prisons are underbidding them. I do however think that prisoners should work and pay for their prison sentence and not put it all on the tax payers.

dfgkasdjflma

Why not? They might as well be useful for something while in jail--- Do you know the US spends billions of dollars a year to keep inmates fed, clothed and sheltered with heat and a gym! As long as the corporations are paying then why not?

I think prison labor is an excellent idea - but working only in the public sector; roads, landfills, highways and other public works. These people need to repay society for their keep and this would be a good way for it to happen. I also think that prisoners should NOT have cable TV, access to telephones (except regularly scheduled times using a pay phone and being monitored). They should NOT have access to "work out" equipment. If they want to "bulk up" let 'em do pushups in their cage.

Rather than keeping them in their cells 23 hours a day, make them work a full 8 hour day, do their own laundry and dress them in silly colors.

I believe that, while visitors should be permitted, it should be on the other side of a screen. No conjugal visits! No physical contact - at all - with the visitor. Children should not be permitted to visit the inmate except those prisoners who are in for the most minor of crimes such as traffic violations and child support issues.

If we made prison a lot more uncomfortable, perhaps the felon would try harder not to go back...maybe not... But, they have WAY too much time on their hands and WAY too much in the way of "prisoners rights". If someone decides to be a problem to society...they have no rights.

Dylan m

depends on the crime I suppose, If someone committed a crime against a specific corporation, then yes prison labor served by those that wronged that corporation to benefit that corporation would be a good idea.

For general crimes, not against any specific corporation, then I think it would be beneficial for the govt to be able to maybe offset the costs of supporting the convict while they serve by using them as cheap labor doing state or federal labor jobs ( jobs that maybe would not be desirable by someone willing to work who is not a convict )

ndrsfarkas

It would be good for companies but not for employers, still there is a lot of jobless people.

sm177y

If it gives an inmate something to do, and if they are compensated for the work they do, and are able to learn new skills to perform better in society, then yes, I'm all for it. I think that if they had a program like this with minimal involvement of a large corporation, then the prison could become self sustained without the aid of federal and/or state assistance. It could also serve to give the inmates a sense of pride that they are a part of something, and would be a lot more productive towards rehabilitation rather than sitting in a hole rotting.

Annabelle

Why should it be bad idea as long as it's optional for the prisoners?" Everyone decides what to do to relieve the monotony of his own life especially when this monotony seems to continue very long time...but I'm not well grounded in this problem anyway...-what are the profits for the prisoners( material and not)...

c_leoo

Well one.. what else would prisoners be doing???
They can learn a trade so when they are relased they can find a job. I dont think that inmates are entitled to earn as much as a
" free man" would be able to. and two... They cry and complain that all these services cost citys money... get inmates to do it for half the wages.. the city saves half the money... and things can be done. Re: cleaning parks, construciton cleanups, laborers, etc...
What corps , have services they use inmates for???

AuntTater

No...it's not right.
Prisons are designed to insure repeat offenders just so the prison BUSINESS can make money. Meanwhile, there are victims of these repeat offenses.
No...prison SHOULD BE about reformaton but it's really about making money at other people's expense.

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