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27 July, 2000Prison industries expand which can cost jobs for U.S. workers.
USA: Today, 79,922 inmates are employed in federal, state and local facilities in every state in the nation, producing $1.75 billion worth of products a-year, according to the Machinists' magazine, IAM Journal.
Prison labour is spreading with the speed of a well-planned jail break. With U.S. prisons adding 65,000 new inmates a year, the number of federal prison workers will at least double before the end of the decade, according to Federal Prison Industries.
"People justify prison labour by stressing the social value of giving inmates skills and work experience, so they can return to society without becoming repeat offenders," sais IAM Legislative Director Rich Michalski. "Certainly, training prisoners is an excellent thing to do, but training is not the same thing as prison labour. When you force U.S. workers to compete in the labour market against prisoners who are paid next to nothing and who lack any sort of rights to union representation, that is pure exploitation. That has nothing to do with training."
"Prison labour is about generating profits for private companies. It's about financing the huge expansion of the U.S. prison industry," argues Michalski.
It would be difficult to overstate "the huge expansion of the U.S. prison industry." Since 1980, the U.S. has opened 1,000 new jails and prisons. Between 1985 and 1995, somewhere in the United States a new state or federal prison opened every week.
Today, two million Americans are locked behind bars. That's a 400 percent increase in the prison population in 20 years, giving the U.S. the second-highest incarceration rate in the world, second only to Russia.
Prison labour is spreading with the speed of a well-planned jail break. With U.S. prisons adding 65,000 new inmates a year, the number of federal prison workers will at least double before the end of the decade, according to Federal Prison Industries.
"People justify prison labour by stressing the social value of giving inmates skills and work experience, so they can return to society without becoming repeat offenders," sais IAM Legislative Director Rich Michalski. "Certainly, training prisoners is an excellent thing to do, but training is not the same thing as prison labour. When you force U.S. workers to compete in the labour market against prisoners who are paid next to nothing and who lack any sort of rights to union representation, that is pure exploitation. That has nothing to do with training."
"Prison labour is about generating profits for private companies. It's about financing the huge expansion of the U.S. prison industry," argues Michalski.
It would be difficult to overstate "the huge expansion of the U.S. prison industry." Since 1980, the U.S. has opened 1,000 new jails and prisons. Between 1985 and 1995, somewhere in the United States a new state or federal prison opened every week.
Today, two million Americans are locked behind bars. That's a 400 percent increase in the prison population in 20 years, giving the U.S. the second-highest incarceration rate in the world, second only to Russia.