Prisons provide taxpayer subsidized labor for giant companies

The sun beats down and the dust from dozens of prisoners tilling the ground rises into a cloudless sky. In the distance prison guards sit on horses, shotguns in hand, hats pulled down over their brows. From the oak grove at the bottom of the hill the sound of cicadas waxes and wanes in the still air. Some of the prisoners sing as they work.

It looks like a scene out of the late 19th century but it’s not. This is 21st century Arkansas, or maybe it’s Iowa, or perhaps Idaho. Or maybe the farm is replaced by a call center or a processing plant. Across the country prisoners are doing work for big companies for practically no pay. Many prisons in the US have become sources of ultra-low cost workers for American industry.

We the taxpayers are housing these prisoners at great cost however. And since prison labor is often contracted by companies for pennies taxpayers are essentially paying to subsidize labor for all sorts of (typically) giant companies.

In years past we looked at this issue closely. The amount of “free” (or nearly “free”) labor that was contracted by companies in the mid 20-teens was pretty astounding. Attached is a good examination of the current state of prison labor, and it appears that not much has changed.

The AP (below) focuses on the alleged human rights violations associated with this crony labor system, as it should. But when we consider how to address this problem we should keep in mind that in addition to what some people consider unfair labor conditions, we the taxpayers are subsidizing this work. Migrant workers (for instance) cost a fortune compared to subsidized prisoners. Some would say this creates some perverse economic incentives.

This pool of very inexpensive labor is an important commodity to many prison systems. Everyone wants to keep the contract dollars flowing. It’s not hard to imagine how law enforcement might be subtly (or perhaps not so subtly) encouraged to keep prisons full (of subsidized worker/prisoners).