Is cheap labor in the US Prison Industrial Complex pulling down US wages?

[swag]

From Brad Plumer's blog:

The Joys of Prison Labor

Thanks to my newfound and wholly-corrupt pledge to link to Alternet more often, I just happened across a great story by Chris Levister about prison labor. The prison-industrial complex, Levister reports, now employs an incredible 750,000 people—"more than any Fortune 500 corporation." And most of those workers earn less than minimum wage:

For the tycoons who have invested in the prison industry, it has been like finding a pot of gold. They don't have to worry about strikes or paying unemployment, health or worker's comp insurance, vacation or comp time. All of their workers are full time, and never arrive late or are absent because of family problems; moreover, if prisoners refuse to work, they are moved to disciplinary housing and lose canteen privileges. Most importantly, they lose "good time" credit that reduces their sentence.

Bonanza! Now one might reasonably wonder whether this captive, ultra-cheap labor force might be pulling down wages and standards for everyone else. After all, while inmates making goods for domestic consumption must be paid a "prevailing wage," that law doesn't apply to exports. So companies can outsource production to the local penitentiary and pay their "workers" next to nothing:

Prisoners now manufacture everything from blue jeans, to auto parts, to electronics and furniture. Honda has paid inmates $2 an hour for doing the same work an auto worker would get paid $20 to $30 an hour to do. Konica has used prisoners to repair copiers for less than 50 cents an hour. … Clothing made in California and Oregon prisons competes so successfully with apparel made in Latin America and Asia that it is exported to other countries.

The whole racket seems rather perverse—prisons have effectively become domestic sweatshops. But what should be done about it? Well, the government could obviously require that prisoners who manufacture exports be paid a prevailing wage too. That could result in fewer companies contracting with prisons altogether, which might be bad for prisoners, seeing as how these programs are popular and purportedly help them build job skills and the like. But this sounds exactly like the standard argument against raising the minimum wage, a fear that sounds sensible in theory but almost never pans out in practice. Plus, who says prison sweatshops are the best way to "help" prisoners out anyway?

. . . more

[katsy]

1. Odd

A co-worker told me last week that according to a prison publication, 35% of U.S. population will be in prison in 25 years and then you'll see corporations moving their production back to the U.S. to take advantage of prison labor.

[Selatius]

2. 35% of the population? That wouldn't be the US in 25 years. That...

would be George Orwell's Oceania.

[katsy]

5. What is it now?

I'll try & get details tomorrow from my friend. I just thought it was pretty brazen for a prison trade publication to be discussing labor. That's privatization for you.

[swag]

11. Here's a graphic that shows incarceration rates by country

It leaves out China due to some gray areas of detention there, and the Russian data are different than what I posted down-thread, but it does give a pretty good idea of how the US stacks up to the rest of the world in the incarceration rankings.

[mom cat]

23. Great graphic. It says it all! Thanks.

[Virginia Dare]

3. No wonder we're cozying up to China...

I guess we want to learn from the masters.

[swag]

6. 35% seems unlikely, since we're at about 0.69% right now

Still, the United States does hold the title of Incarceration Nation:

From Global Research:
[br />The incarceration rate in Sweden was 60 per 100,000. France: 90 per 100,000. England: 125. South Africa: 400 per 100,000. Russia, with the second highest rate in the world: 675. The United States led the world with 690 per 100,000. Incredibly enough, the nation that proclaims itself the homeland and headquarters of world freedom comprises 5 percent of the world's population but houses more than 25 percent of the world's prisoners. "No other Western democratic country has ever imprisoned this proportion of its population," says Norval Morris, a professor emeritus at University of Chicago Law School.

[katsy]

12. Yeah, it does seem high.

Why are they building all those detention centers though?

I will get the name of the publication for sure.

[booley]

4. Doesn't China do this too?

And aren't they a dictatorship?

In fact, since so mnay corporations amke money off of these prisons AND these same corporations give lots of money to.politicans who ideas about "stopping crime" always seem to involve locking people up for longer and longer stays..is it possible there is a profit motive driving the prison population higher and higher?

O r is that all crazy talk?

[swag]

16. Yeah, China does a lot of it, and the extent to which US and

multinational corporations profit from the work of Chinese prisoners is an interesting question that has landed in the courts more than once.

Is your talk crazy talk? I don't know. What's with this never-ending "War on Drugs" anyway?

[redqueen]

7. This is news?

I thought the nascent prison-industrial complex was fairly well-known.

Is it still nascent, even?

[swag]

8. You will forgive some of us for needing to play catch-up on certain issues

Or maybe you won't.

At any rate, I think the prison worker wages vs. "free" worker wages makes an interesting counterpoint to certain anti-immigration arguments.

[redqueen]

10. Ah no, no disrespect intended...

I just thought this was well known is all. Disgusting, too. How shocking that the "liberal" media is not all over the story, no? Considering how wages are flat or down all over, and only the wealthy are enjoying the fruits of our "growing economy"?

I'd be interested to read an your views on how this issue relates to the immigration debate. The DMN recently published an article blaming immigrants for falling wages. How liberal of them.

[swag]

13. No disrespect taken.

Always good to see you.

[Virginia Dare]

14. Not so far fetched...

Rep. Dana Rohrbacher (Asshole-CA) recently suggested as much:

The views of one particularly outspoken conservative congressman from Orange County elicit snorts, eye rolls and sighs in California's farm country.

"I say let the prisoners pick the fruit," Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, said in May at a Capitol news conference to denounce the Senate bill.

In a recent interview, Rohrabacher said his suggestion was serious, not sardonic.

"It is not in the interest of our country to legalize the status of anyone who is in the country illegally," he said. "We should see if there's a way to do this without having a guest worker program," because of the "horrible side effects" of relying on foreign workers.

To fill farm jobs, Rohrabacher said, "We have a massive resource with prisoners. Prisons quite often are near agricultural areas." The prisoners could keep half their earnings and prisons could keep the rest, he said.

Rohrbacher accused agribusiness of going "down the wrong strategic road" and said that, "as the Senate proposal goes down in flames, they are going to be looking for alternatives."

http://dwb.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14274199p-15084089c.html

[swag]

19. Ha! Well, he gave the game away, didn't he?

I should have remembered that one. Thanks for finding it.

[Laughing Mirror]

20. 2.2 million warm bodies is a pretty sizeable minority group

a pretty sizeable work force to exploit. Add to that another 5 to 6 million captive bodies regularly churning through the system and you can see how it is in the interests of the ever-expanding prison industrial complex to keep on expanding. I don't that I would call it nascent anymore. The whole thing is a huge scam, but it mostly involves poor people, so nobody cares.

[redqueen]

21. Exactly. The poor are invisible.

I blame the liberal media for not making the public more aware.

[SoCalDem]

9. Everyone who takes a job for "less pay" than the prevailing

wage, or who works "under the table" for cash, or who pushes for union-busting (usually because THEY cannot get in) drives wages down, down, down..

It really started spinning out of control as the southern "states'-righters" wooed the then-disintegrating industries up north.. These industries had a real problem on their hands...they were working in facilities that had been built during the industrial revolution, and then run into the ground for about 80 years or so, and instead of making repairs and updating all along, they just abandoned the poor old creaky buildings and moved south where the weather was warmer, the land cheaper, and with local "give-backs" , "relaxed" environmental rules, and super cheap labor, they could afford to leave a workforce in the dust and start over in a brand new facility...making more and more money for those at the top. They had a compliant workforce who were conned into believing that the UNIONS had "forced" those businesses to relocate, so they better not try it ..

Look around any city in the rust belt and you'll still see some of those ancient brick remnants of days gone by..

It was not a mystery when those same owners started looking outside the US for even cheaper workers and places with NO environmental rules..

[redqueen]

15. Reading your post got me thinking of "Which Side Are You On" ...

Come all you good workers,
Good news to you I'll tell
Of how the good old union
Has come in here to dwell.

Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?

My daddy was a miner,
And I'm a miner's son,
And I'll stick with the union
'Til every battle's won.

They say in Harlan County
There are no neutrals there.
You'll either be a union man
Or a thug for J. H. Blair.

Oh workers can you stand it?
Oh tell me how you can?
Will you be a lousy scab
Or will you be a man?

Don't scab for the bosses,
Don't listen to their lies.
Us poor folks haven't got a chance
Unless we organize.

[Alameda]

17. Prison labor

This is a very serious issue that many are unaware of. I once spoke with a man who ran call centers in womens Federal prisons. He boasted the cost was cheaper than India.

Doesn't this also provide incentives to get more prisoners? It sure is Union busting.

[SoCalDem]

18. They are the "perfect" workforce..

they are never late to work..
never strike (effectively)
"paid" less than overseas workers

and the prison bosses get lucrative "contracts" with tons 'o cash for themselves..

[TX-RAT]

22. Lompoc Facility in California

The assemble and manufacture sign and sign post assembly's for the Federal Government. Others manufacture wiring harnesses for F-16 fighters. Their guards salaries average over 100,000 a year.

[newyawker99]

24. Hi Alameda!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Alameda]

26. who benefits?

Thanks...BTW I'm a relocated New Yorker...lived downtown on Houston & 6th for 30 years. Had a view of WTC towers from my window.

On topic though, one always should look for who and how they benefit....hmmm?

[Nikki Stone 1]

25. The drug laws have increased this hidden workforce

:kick: and R