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47of74

(18,470 posts)
Mon May 25, 2020, 10:10 AM May 2020

Iowa inmates earn $1.15 per hour producing COVID-19 supplies

Just saw this come across

One of Iowa’s most reliable sources of personal protective equipment to fight the coronavirus has been a statewide prison labor program that can pay inmates as little as 58 cents per hour.

Prisoners across the state have helped make 98,000 masks, 40,000 gowns, 17,000 face shields and 24,000 gallons of hand sanitizer in recent weeks, the Iowa Department of Corrections says.

Inmates and staff at several prisons have been working weekends and nights, including 12 hours on Easter Sunday, to produce the supplies, which are being used to protect themselves, the guards, state employees and health care workers.

Female inmates at the prison in Mitchellville have made hand sanitizer. Male inmates at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility have made masks and gowns. Their counterparts in Anamosa have made face shields.


I think they should be paid a lot more. Get the incentive to warehouse people and do an end run around the 13th Amendment out of the system. Make it so that the state has to actually compete with private entities instead of undercutting them to the point that these companies have to shut.
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Iowa inmates earn $1.15 per hour producing COVID-19 supplies (Original Post) 47of74 May 2020 OP
I bet a commisary candy bar costs at least $2 exboyfil May 2020 #1
While unemployment in IA is over 10 percent. progressoid May 2020 #2
Inmates who work are paid pitifully. PoindexterOglethorpe May 2020 #3

exboyfil

(17,857 posts)
1. I bet a commisary candy bar costs at least $2
Mon May 25, 2020, 10:19 AM
May 2020

Can you imagine working an entire day for four candy bars?

I also wonder how "voluntary" it really is. Wait for the next parole board hearing. I bet it gets a check mark if the prisoner participated in the labor program.

For a weird observation, I was looking up the names of the murderers responsible for the Gitchie Manitou murders. There was a shop newsletter showing two of them in their safety glasses talking about some productivity achievement. It looked just like one of our shop newsletters at the time. It always struck me as odd.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,746 posts)
3. Inmates who work are paid pitifully.
Mon May 25, 2020, 11:40 PM
May 2020

And apparently, the Supreme Court has said that federal minimum wage laws simply don't apply to them. Which is outrageous for a lot of reasons.

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