Canning greens at a canning factory at where the workers are prisoners of the State of Georgia (where Approximately 1 in 13 adults is either in prison or in jail, on parole or on bail).
Photo by Jan Banning
PRISON ECONOMICS: THE EXPLOITATION OF PRISONER WORK AND WAGES.
By Carlos Arias & Dan Jones
On August 21, 2018, prisoners around the country declared a nationwide strike after seven prisoners lost their lives in a riot at Lee Correctional Institution in South Carolina. Prisoners released a list of 10 demands for improving deteriorating prison conditions. Second on their list was the following:
“…An immediate end to prison slavery. All persons imprisoned in any place of detention under United States jurisdiction must be paid the prevailing wage in their state or territory for their labor…”
Prisoners in Oregon can earn as low as $8 per month, or $0.05 per hour. Compare that with Oregon’s standard minimum wage of $11.50, and you can calculate that prisoners are earning 230 times LESS per hour than minimum wage workers on the outside. Does this mean that prices of goods in prisons are reduced by this same multiple?
Don’t count on it.
How much do Incarcerated people earn in each state?
Source: Prison Policy Initiative, 2017. To learn more visit Wendy Sawyer’s article here.
Below is a typical Oregon Department of Corrections commissary menu, this is where prisoners can find what they need, at the prices they’ll have to pay. We made one small change. We adjusted some prices for a rough “prison inflation” and multiplied certain, familiar items by that 230 figure, to see how much it’s truly costing prisoners who earn the least amount of money for their labor. While $1.22 for a bag of Keebler Club Crackers may seem reasonable, when earning $0.05 per hour, it essentially costs a far less reasonable $280.60. Many people have to rely on friends and family to send them money for commissary, because the money they earn is simply not enough.
This is exploitation. This is slavery. By the numbers.
You can find out more about the nationwide prison strike, it’s organizers and their demands by following Jailhouse Lawyers Speak on Twitter.
Oregon Department of Corrections Commissary Menu
