Should Prisoners be made to Work?

Question

Instead of just locking up prisoners 23 hours a day I think they should be given full time work inside the prisons and I mean proper work not mundane tasks.
This would set the groundwork for a more positive life upon their release,and at the same time some of their wages will go towards compensation for their victims,this will also do away with some of the problems of the dodgy dealings that appear to go on in our prisons.
I have heard that some Prisons in America do this,and perhaps, our American friends can advise me if this works.
I am not interested in people who will answer this saying they should rot where they are,because in some cases I agree with you,but this is a serious question that needs thought.

Answer 1

I agree wit u in totality, dey shld b made 2 work hard, their wages all shild b given 2 their victims, this will serve as deterrant to others. Yo 've asked a nice Qu.

Cheers

Answer 2

I have one question for you. Who would you prefer living next door to your family?.....someone who just spent the last 10 years locked in a little cell for 23 hours a day rotting away.....OR a person who actually worked, contributed, felt like a person, was treated with dignity, got some programs to deal with the reasons they did their crime in the first place, learned some new skills, and was released with some purpose and hope for the future?

Because...eventually 93% of all federal prisoners will be released at some point and right into your neighbourhood.

I prefer the latter thanks.

p.s. I'm a canadian, so I have a very "corrective" perspective on this issue. Americans are still stuck in the the "punitive" perspective.

Answer 3

Prisoners are offered work or education - even in local prisons rather than training prisons. Unfortunately some are not fit to work or are too old to work. Others who are only serving short sentences may choose not to get involved but these guys have to remain in cell whilst their fellow prisoners are working or at education.

Even local prisons usually have a number of workshops offering different types of work eg repacking airline head phones, or putting English stickers on Mars Bars. There is also work in the kitchens, laundry, wing cleaning and wing painting.

I am not a prisoner nor have I ever been a prisoner, and I would never want to be a prisoner. It really is not the cushy number that people think it is.

What dodgy dealings are you referring to?

Answer 4

I would think its the least they could do in return for their free room and board, 3 meals a day and all the comforts in life like gym facilities, tv, cable, entertainment systems. About time there was a return to hard labour and cramped cells instead of giving them a holiday camp at the taxpayers expense. There should be no benefits on release either, get a job and pay back some of what they owe into the system.

Answer 5

This seems a good idea in principle but it would probably be difficult to implement.
The benefits to to inmates are obvious:
Mental and Physical activity.
Training.
Maintaining a routine that will ease a return to normal life one released.

The cost of such arrangements would undoubtedly be high:
Additional supervision out of cells.
Employment of managers to run these mini industries.
Requirement for staff to carry out education and training of prisoners.

The prison population has a very low educational standard and much work would be required to bring the average prisoner above the level of menial work. The costs of your proposal would undoubtedly be in excess of the value of the labour input so there would be no funds for compensation. Nevertheless, I believe that there would be a long term benefit to society as re-offending rates would ultimately decline when prisoners find themselves employable after release.

Sadly, as the payback time for such a scheme is longer than the interval between elections, governments opt for the easy solution of 23 hour lock-ups to give criminals time to nurture their grievances against society.

Answer 6

There are schemes in some prisons in the UK for prisoners to learn a skill. Our local prison offers training in Industrial Cleaning, but places are limited. Due, I suppose, to limited funding. There are also education courses, and drug awareness/rehabilitation courses. Some open prisons allow prisoners to work full-time outside and pay "lodging" fees which help fund the programme, but as far as I know, none of their wages go to any form of reparation - I think maybe it should, say half of what they earn.

Answer 7

They should be made to work, and work hard for their board and lodgings, with a reward of some kind, i.e., the harder they work, the more rewards they get, if they won't work, basic rations, just enough to keep them alive, on minimum calories, make their life so tedious, they would want to work in the end, this namby pamby attitude is no good, never has been, and never will, show them who's boss, that's the only way to get their respect, as for murderers and rapists, if they are proved guilty, beyond any shadow of doubt, they should hang, same for paedophiles and suchlike. Lets give this Country of ours back to the law abiding, in a sentence, let the punishment fit the crime.

Answer 8

In Canada, prisoners are put to work as a means of compensating 60% of their earnings, while in prison, to the taxpayers, possibly their victims, and/or their own families.

There are both economic and habilitative advantages to having prisoners work. Revenue from prisoner-produced goods and services can offset part or all of the cost of incarceration. Part of the wages paid to prisoners can be used for the same purpose or go to victims for restitution, or to the prisoners' families for upkeep. In addition, working provides other benefits to prisoners.

What could we reasonably expect under an aggressive expansion of private production by prisoners? z

~A full-time job typically means 2,000 hours of work per year (40 hours per week times 50 weeks).

~An average wage of $5.00 an hour is feasible, for a total of $10,000 in gross earnings per prisoner each year.

~If a majority of these earnings were allocated to taxpayer compensation, say 60 percent, then at least $6,000 a year per prison worker would be available to compensate taxpayers.

If one in four prisoners could be put to work for private enterprise over the next five to 10 years, during which time the prison population is projected to increase to 1.6 million, that implies about 400,000 new prison jobs. Their work would reduce taxpayer costs by $2.4 billion per year, or somewhat less than 10 percent of the total cost of prison support.13

One of the difficulties of creating jobs for prisoners is that many of them are illiterate or semiliterate, or have low IQs, but champions of inmate labor are confident such jobs could be created. The federal system has the best prospects for high rates of payback because many of the prisoners are there for crimes typically committed by more intelligent criminals like counterfeiting, kidnapping and drug smuggling.

Answer 9

I agree with cabochick, but as this is Britian we are talking about, lets hope that none of them escape!

I know someone who is a reformed citizen but 20 years ago he was a prisoner working outside the jail and he escaped. (He was later caught and served the rest of his time - working inside the jail!)

Answer 10

yea here they ran out of prison space , and was asking idea about it about it on a radio station I called in and said , why dont they shift half of prisoner to work the roads cleaning painting etc,while the other half sleep share beds,so dont have to build new prison, but radio host said the human right people whouldnt stand for it,Iam for it