Prison work varies in type and purpose, with some facilities using it to provide skills and earn money, while others use it as punishment. In the past, prisoners were given meaningless tasks, but now they are put to productive work that benefits the prison. Inmates are limited to non-dangerous projects and those that don’t involve contact with the outside world. Some argue that forced labor camps are a form of slavery and consumers should be careful not to support them.
Prison work is work done by people who have been incarcerated for a crime. This practice is common in many countries, but the type of work performed and its expected effect on prisoners often varies. For many facilities, prison labor is used to provide inmates with challenging activities, valuable work skills, and possible ways to earn money. This work may explicitly be used as a way to punish inmates or to help complete projects that are of benefit to the community or correctional facility.
It was once common in many areas for prisoners to be put to somewhat meaningless work as a direct form of punishment. Going through the motions of labor must have been physically exhausting and mentally deadly. Common tasks included grinding grain, pushing mills, and breaking rocks. While all of these tasks might be mildly helpful, they were almost always assigned for specific punitive capacities.
In modern prisons, where work is permitted, it is much more common for inmates to be put to productive work. Wasting inmate effort on tasks that could be better done by machine isn’t nearly as economical as making inmates work in ways that benefit the prison. A large number of prisons do not pay inmates and consider work compulsory. Some prisons pay inmates, and many offer this work as an option for those with good standing to break out of their cells.
Almost any type of work can be done by inmates, but prisons usually only allow inmates to work on projects that can’t involve dangerous activities and that don’t involve contact with the outside world. For example, the production of desks, plaques, or components for larger objects are all common uses of prison labor. Some prisons allow inmates to do telephone work, but generally with the understanding that the inmate must not reveal her location. There are also often jobs for inmates that serve the prison itself, such as working in the laundry or as a cook. Special inmates may find themselves with more desirable jobs, such as working as a prison librarian.
There are some concerns about the rights of inmates working in forced labor camps and arguments that this work is little more than legalized slavery. Consumers concerned about the moral impact of the products they buy must be very careful not to buy those made by prisoners interned in forced labor camps, because unlike the more moderately low-wage prison labor, these jobs clearly constitute human rights violations .
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