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State Budget Battles Converge on Prison Labor Force

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

State Budget Battles Converge on Prison Labor Force In These Times Mar 9, 2011 By Michelle Chen Prison isn't just about doing hard time. For many, it's about working full-time, too. These days, state governments seem ready to squeeze their captive workforces to plug budget gaps on the cheap. From the chain gang to the gulag, labor in the prison population predates our modern labor regulations and to this day, remains relatively untouched by the legal protections afforded to regular workers. So in most states, prison work has come to be seen as a hybrid between conscript labor and rehabilitation, putting otherwise ?idle? inmates to work on farms, manufacturing plants, and janitorial jobs. The New York Times reports that in many areas, laborers in prison jump suits are a growing presence at many public work sites, suggesting that they're being used to alleviate fiscal pressures now eroding common public sector services: [O]fficials are expanding the practice to combat cuts in federal financing and dwindling tax revenue, using prisoners to paint vehicles, clean courthouses, sweep campsites and perform many other services done before the recession by private contractors or government employees...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on March 09, 2011 (boomark / email).