House Votes on Prison Workers Bill

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031106/ap_on_go_co/prison_industries_1

WASHINGTON - The House on Thursday voted to make federal prisoners compete with businesses for government work, saying a government-run corporation that uses inmates to make office furniture, electronics and other products is putting other Americans out of work.



Lawmakers complained that the cheap labor and guaranteed contracts of Federal Prison Industries, Inc., has been putting small businesses in their states out of business through laws that require federal agencies to buy products there.


Federal Prison Industries, Inc., makes 150 products, including office furniture, electronics and textiles, and its entire product line is sold exclusively to federal agencies. The agencies must buy their products from FPI, under the trade name Unicor, unless the corporation does not manufacture the item or it grants a waiver allowing the agency to shop elsewhere.


With its guaranteed government contacts, between Oct. 2001 and Sept. 2002, FPI sold over $210 million in office furniture, a 17.2 percent share of the office furniture market, said Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (news - web sites).

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$1.04/hr. Back in the day, we used to call that slave labor. Today, we call it a 3rd world sweat shop.

Inmates also get three hots and a cot, not to mention vocational training, and free medical care that is better in quality than that available to many unincarcerated, law-abiding Americans. Inmates are NOT pounding rocks or doing hard labor. My heart does not bleed for the them. You've seen apparently too many bad movies depicting inmates as the oppressed and prison staffs as the sadistic oppressors. It really doesn't work that way.

If it's that good everyone would want to live in a prison.</sarcasm>
The medical care part is a joke. You get Dr. Moussairi from pakistan who treats his dog better.

You seem to have pretty insightful knowledge of them. Kinda nice of you to talk about necessities as "luxuries". Oh my god, they get food....and a bed????? Jesus Christ, sign me up! The other things you mention help in that thing called reform, good things. Unless you prefer your criminals hardened and more likely to recommit crimes.

They are still human beings, and if they are going to be worked, they should be paid what other human beings are being paid for that work. If not for the respect for human dignity we all claim to have, at least not to punish our law abiding workers.

How nice, we tax them to pay for prisons, then undercut them in their jobs.

ranging from minimum-security work camps to supermaxes. Do you have any specific questions?

eom

but in the service of the State.

We pay them a whopping $1.04/hr and them make them buy their necessities (shampoo, cigarettes, etc.) from the prison store at STREET prices, plus an 11% markup.

Families of the inmates aren't allowed to send these items to the prisoners, they MUST purchase them from the prison store and give back the entire $1.04/hr there. The "wages" never leave the prison, and if they try to send money to kids, etc. it is confiscated and applied to any restitution or fines which have to be paid.

As for the medical care, I have just one question....if these doctors are so good at what they do, why aren't they in private practice earning a fortune instead of working for the state or federal government???

They can have cigarettes sent in, as well as non-perishable food items, clothing, toiletries, etc. There "necessities," incl toiletries, are given to them at no charge. (BTW, since when are cigarettes necessities? Smoking is no longer allowed in most prisons, except in the outside yards).

Inmate "wages" are placed in an inmate account for commissary buys --inmates cannot have currency in prison because it used to traffic in contraband such as drugs, and it results in inmate-on-inmate violence. Accumulated funds in inmate accounts may be distributed to the inmate on their release dates. Should an inmate somehow receive a windfall (i.e., lawsuit) while in prison, funds from his account may be ditributed to family members.

In my state, inmate healthcare is based on an HMO model, with PAs, RNs, and MDs serving as primary care givers. Specialized and emergency care is provided by the very same doctors, and at the very same hospitals and health care facilities that you or I would visit. You would be shocked at the level of care received by inmates. For instance, close to 70% of the inmates in my state are HIV positive (no exaggeration). Many of these inmates never received any health care outside of prison, were diagnosed on admission, and are then provided with a full course of treatment. This treatment is continued at state expense after the inmate is released from prison.

Why aren't prison physicians in private practice -- many are. Many work part time in prisons. Many elect to work in prisons because, at least initially, they share your "progressive" sentiments. (Then they are subjected to countless recreational lawsuits at the hands of the inmates and they end up no longer being "progressive," at least with respect to corrections).

Keep in mind that many prisons are in rural communities where there is not much of an economy apart from corrections.

$1.04/hr -- given that inmates have virtually no needs that aren't provided for by the state, is more than ample. No, prison accomodations are not luxurious. But inmates are clothed, fed, provided with free medical and dental care, offered schooling and vocational programs, etc. Would you rather they be paid a reasonable wage and then charged for everything on an ala carte basis? BTW, what would a reasonable wage be for the prison porter who sweeps the cell blocks, or the guy who folds the laundry, or the guy who works in the messhall? Would you suggest that they receive minimum wage, and then be forced to pay for their memberships in an HMO just like you or I? Should they pay for their room and board? Their meals? Their heat and hot water?