By Jennifer

America has over 1.7 million people locked up in its many jails and prisons, and the number is showing no signs of decreasing, But those who decry the "welfare state" are not crying any tears over those more or less permanent dependents of the nation. American businesses are increasingly viewing the inmates as national assets, not liabilities. The going wage for one hour of inmate work ranges from 20 cents to a few dollars, and at a price. like that, the US labour market is finally competing with those desperate Third World countries!

Even when by law the Company must pay prison inmates the prevailing wage, 80% of this wage goes to room,board, victim restitution, and other such fees, leaving the inmate with about a dollar or so an hour. Companies see the business savvy when they hire prison workers, because not only are they cheaper all, around (no pesky and costly health insurance to worry, about) but it is a guaranteed work force that comes in to work on time and always sober. Best of all, prison workers never strike, and they can also be used as scabs when free workers strike for their rights. There is also a PR gain: companies can advertise the fact that they are giving inmates a second chance and are rehabilitating them for life on the outside, all the while lessening the financial burden on the state. But are they really rehabilitating prisoners, or just taking advantage of a captive labour force?

Whatever the implied reason for utilising prison labour, government and business are diving into it wholesale. In fact, government is so receptive to the idea that it is facilitating the moving of (private) industrial equipment to prisons. For example, the state of Wisconsin recently financed the move of glove making machines into their Green Bay Correctional Institution at a rate well below prime. Meanwhile, that same glove manufacturer just laid off its free (and higher paid) work force. A coincidence? Labour doesn't think so, but the state does.

This is just one example among many of businesses dumping their higher paid free labour for attractive and cheap incarceratedworkers. Prisoners clear brush in one city, for example for $1.60 per hour. Their union counterparts received $16.00 an hour for the same job. Laws exist prohibiting such displacement, but the real problem is that no single definition exists. Each state defines the word in a different way, and there is no national standard as of yet. Needless to say, prosecution of businesses who dump their expensive labour for prison labour has not been very fervent, but the phenomenon is alive and well.

Some American manufacturers surprisingly, are angry about the use of prison labour, especially by their competitors. They are against a federal law that states that the government must buy the goods made by prisoners, such as office products and shelving. The manufacturers argue that this creates a sort of monopoly that does not save the government any money (because the prison-made products are often marked up way above their actual cost) and it unfairly shuts out private businesses from a lucrative market. But these companies' attitudes change rapidly when they themselves can take advantage of this cheap prison labour.

Although there are laws that ban interstate commerce of prison-made goods, and laws that only allow sales of these goods to government and non-profit organizations, there is a massive lobby to change all that. When that happens, it will indeed be a dark day for labour. Oregon State Representative Kevin Mannix recently implored companies like Nike to turn to prison labour at home rather than wage slaves abroad when deciding where to settle. He argued that Nike could have the best of Third World labour prices without the inconvenience of transportation costs, and indeed they could. Some states have even gone so far as to grant tax incentives to businesses for relocating their production to prisons, saying that they are bringing jobs back to the United States. The irony of this is apparently lost on the eager state representatives.

While all this labour is ostensibly for the prisoners' benefit, rehabilitation is not achieved by assembling sports utility vehicles, data entry, or customer service. Other projects that are less profitable but more beneficial are being shut down in favour of more lucrative but menial labour. Gardening projects, for example, have been very successful at rehabilitating prisoners. Inmates raise specialty crops and sell them to local restaurants in these programs. Not a huge money making enterprise, but more healthy than entering data. Because of the phenomenal growth of the prison population (currently there are 645 incarcerated per 100,000 of the population, the most of all industrialized countries), the utilization of pnson labour is only going to grow. As one union official scoffed, soon the only way any of us will be able to get a job will be to land in prison. See you in the big house.

Thanks to "Slingshot"