4 ms·

Cheap labor?

• gumby 9y ago
  It does appear that was part of the development of Parchman, Angola and the like. However the cost of the prison-industrial complex dwarfs the economic value of a prisoner's labor. There are other funds to be extracted of course, including exorbitant phone calls, "snack kits" and the like but that money goes to private corporations, not to the state (and to the kind of political donations that lead to the "three strikes" laws in California).
  • travmatt 9y ago
    Your analysis makes sense but I think it’s too simplistic. Specifically, I think the economic costs are borne by the taxpayers as opposed to people planning prisons, and rather obliquely at that. I’m not sure a prison is motivated to be fiscally prudent above and beyond what’s required to stay within their operating budgets, whereas a private corporation would have that incentive. I’m envisioning someonething like the military, where the pain of wasteful spending is quite disconnected from the people making the decision.
    • gumby 9y ago
      I was not clear: I agree with you. Selling off the prisoner's labor is a minor source of income for the private prison operators (basically bonus revenue); most of their revenue indeed comes from the state. I don't believe incarceration for labor is much of an arrest motivator any more. I think the primary motivation in the US is some sort of punitive cruelty. Historically the point of incarceration has changed with fashion (and technology of course).