The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution bans slavery and protects all people from forced labor with the exception of one group: prison inmates. The justice system typically requires inmates to work as part of their sentences, and many do routine maintenance jobs within prison walls. However, today many inmates also work in programs that produce goods and provide services for government agencies and the private sector. Inmates sew military uniforms, build furniture and harvest crops, usually for sub-minimum wages. As a cheap and readily available source of labor, they are playing an expanding role in American business and industry.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1.6 million inmates are serving time in American jails and prisons. Legal scholar Noah Zatz estimates that about half of them have jobs in prison work programs. Prisons deploy convict labor in a variety of ways. Eastern Oregon Correctional Institute created an independent business that employs 80 inmates who produce Prison Blues clothing, a signature line of jeans and t-shirts. Other prisons rely on agencies that run manufacturing centers and market convict labor to local businesses that need workers for a particular project or to municipalities that need buildings painted or parks cleaned. Unicor, a federal prison labor agency managed by the government, employs more than 14,000 inmates and produces equipment for the U.S. Department of Defense.
Inmates in prison work programs earn between 95 cents and $4.73 a day. Prisons deduct up to 80 percent of their wages for taxes, the cost of incarceration and for programs that assist crime victims. Small amounts of money are also deducted for those who pay child support and for mandatory savings accounts meant to help convicts re-establish their lives when they are released. From April to June, 2012, prison work programs reported a total income of $10.5 million. From that total, more than $5.8 million went to pay for inmates' room and board, victims programs and taxes. Inmates netted $4.1 million, and the rest was applied toward child support and tucked away in saving accounts.
Pros and Cons
Proponents argue that prison work programs provide training and job opportunities that support an inmate's rehabilitation. The jobs keep inmates busy and out of trouble, and the money generated helps support the prison system and eases the burden on taxpayers. However, opponents of the convict labor system point out that most inmates work at low-skill jobs, and whatever training they do pick up isn't marketable in the communities to which they will eventually return. With the new trend of privatizing prisons, states already pick up the cost of contracts that outsource incarceration, and money deducted from inmate wages increases the profits of professional prisons and their investors rather than decreasing the costs for taxpayers.
Effects on Business
Businesses that access convict labor typically pay inmates significantly less than regular workers. Honda pays inmates $2 an hour for same jobs regular workers would do for more than $20 an hour. Businesses are also spared the expenses of providing health care and benefits such as vacations and sick time, and convict labor can be contracted when needed and terminated when jobs are completed. However, small businesses that produce the same types of goods as prison work programs have lost contracts because they cannot match the low production costs that come from having a huge pool of cheap labor. In 2012, several small companies that have traditionally provided clothing and other items to the U.S. military laid off hundred of workers after losing contracts to Unicor.
- William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal: Prisoners for Sale: Making the Thirteenth Amendment Case Against State Private Prison Contracts
- Bureau of Justice Statistics: U.S. Correctional Population Declined for Second Consectutive Year
- Social Science Research Network: Working at the Boundaries of Markets: Prison Labor and the Economic Dimension of Employment Relationships
- ational Criminal Justice Reference Service: Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program
- Salon: 21st century chain gangs
- The Guardian: How US Prison Labour Pads Corporate Profits at Taxpayers' Expense
- Alternet: A Sweatshop Behind Bars
- National Corrections Industries Association: Quarterly Report
- Business Insider: More Jobs Lost As The Government Decides To Have Military Uniforms Made By Convicts
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