NCPA


Policy Issues

NCPA Publications

Both Sides

Editorial Opinions

Audio/Visual


NATIONAL CENTER FOR POLICY ANALYSIS
HOME / DONATE / ONE LEVEL UP / ABOUT NCPA / CONTACT US
Increasing Prison Labor
Daily Policy Digest

Crime & Gun Control Issues / Prison Work

Monday, June 03, 2002
Opposition from unions and businesses fearing competition from cheap prison labor has prevented reform of the Federal Prison Industries (FPI) -- a government-owned corporation that has a monopoly on federal prison labor -- to allow employment of prisoners by private firms. Currently, prisoners work only for the FPI, and the goods they produce may only be sold to government agencies.

FPI employs more than 22,500 prisoners; but if restrictions were lifted, several hundred thousand might be employed. The increased employment of prisoners would help reduce crime and offset the cost of imprisonment, according to a study by the Progressive Policy Institute, the policy arm of the Democratic Leadership Council.

  • A study by the New York State Department of Correctional Services found that 54 percent of prisoners who did not work during their incarceration eventually retuned to prison, while only 34 percent of the group who worked were re-incarcerated.
  • If inmates were allowed to work in the private sector, their earnings would help pay for their food and housing -- alleviating the $40 billion annual cost of incarcerating the country's criminals, as well as allowing them to pay restitution and child support.
  • Prisoners in 36 states are allowed to work for private firms.
  • Furthermore, allowing prisoners to be contracted in the private sector would increase Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Free trade reduces prices by using low-cost, Third World labor to produce some goods, freeing capital and labor in the United States for more productive employment. Increased productivity raises economic growth rates. Similarly, employing idle prisoners would increase GDP and create jobs in other sectors for any civilians displaced by lower-cost labor.

Source: Robert D. Akinson, "Prison Labor: It's More Than Breaking Rocks," Policy Report, May 23, 2002, Progressive Policy Institute.

For text
http://www.ppionline.org/documents/prison_labor_502.pdf

For more on Prison Work
http://www.ncpa.org/iss/cri/
12770 Coit Rd., Suite 800 - Dallas, TX 75251-1339 - 972/386-6272 - Fax 972/386-0924
601 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 900 South Building - Washington, DC 20004 - 202/220-3082 - Fax 202/220-3096
Copyright © 2002 National Center for Policy Analysis - All rights reserved.