A forum for prison labor economic information sharing and debate.
Articles & Papers
Inmates and Work
“Inmates May Work, But Don’t Tell Social Security” Stephanie Hunter-McMahon; South Carolina Law Review, Vol 72 2020-2021
This article examines the ways in which inmates are carved out of the protections offered by the Social Security and Medicare systems.
Download full report from South Carolina Law Review (PDF)
………………………………
2. The Prison Industry Enhancement (PIE) Certification Program
By Barbara Auerbach
The debate surrounding private sector involvement in prison work pits fears about the exploitation of prisoners on the one hand, against fears about unfair competition with free world workers and companies on the other. Those fears are not without merit. Prisoners were used to break strikes and to compete at unfair wage levels in our history. And prison workers were exploited, first under the contract lease system, where they were turned over to private contractors to work in various types of agricultural and industrial production, and later under the contract system under which a company would bring into the prisons raw materials, machinery, and foremen necessary for production and use prisoner workers as their labor force. In both systems, prisoner workers suffered from long hours and abusive treatment, and in both systems competition with local business and labor was unfair.
An Economist Looks at US Prison Labor Reform
By Tom Petersik
My narrow economist’s conclusion is that current US prison labor policy is inefficient; my fuller human conclusion is that it is also genocide.
Download full paper here (PDF)
………………………………
THE PRISON INDUSTRY ENHANCEMENT (PIE) CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
By Barbara Auerbach
Background:
History Before PIE:
The debate surrounding private sector involvement in prison work pits fears about the exploitation of prisoners on the one hand, against fears about unfair competition with free world workers and companies on the other. Those fears are not without merit. Prisoners were used to break strikes and to compete at unfair wage levels in our history. And prison workers were exploited, first under the contract lease system, where they were turned over to private contractors to work in various types of agricultural and industrial production, and later under the contract system under which a company would bring into the prisons raw materials, machinery, and foremen necessary for production and use prisoner workers as their labor force. In both systems, prisoner workers suffered from long hours and abusive treatment, and in both systems competition with local business and labor was unfair.