Is Prison Labor Ethical? In 1885 the use of prison labor was 75 percent, however due to social and economic issues it dropped to 8 percent where it stays. However, it provided cheap and valuable labor for the local area while creating various products for the states making expenditures lesser; but, in light of recent exploited practices, the question of prison labor being ethical has come to bear. Prison labor is ethical since it provides the inmates with a means to improve their lives and repay the community. People typically associate prison as a place where criminals are best kept idle, or that any form of labor is unconstitutional. However, several inmates actively want to work for the prison or the community, and in exchange, they receive skills that they can use once they leave prison. Donald Meyers, the …show more content…
This can be true since professionals state that it might cost more in the long run or the jobs are difficult to get due to the requirements, but providing jail labor helps the community and benefits the inmates. Terrance McDonald, an author and journalist with 15 plus years of experience, along with being the recipient of 23 New Jersey Press associate awards, and two Tim O’Brien awards for his investigative journalism allows him to create articles that deliver an informative take on the matter, “Twenty-three years after the program launched, more than 2,000 homes have been sold—two-bedroom houses today can cost $49,700. And in 2019, inmates worked a total of 142,060 hours building the homes, according to the South Dakota Housing Development Authority”. This means prisons provide not only labor to clean up and help with organizations but also, directly aid the communities by helping build houses, giving the inmates valuable skills and the community affordable housing. The largest argument so far is that the use of prison labor in general is
Should prisons in the United States be for profit? How do for profit prisons benefit the United States? Would inmates rather be in private or public correctional centers? What kind of affects does this have on taxpayers? What are the pros and cons of profit prisons? These are many of the questions that are brought up when discussing for profit prison systems. There are different perspectives that can be taken when it comes to talking about for profit prisons. This paper will discuss some of the ways that the United States has started to become for profit and why it has happened. Finally, this paper will give an opinion of whether or not for profit prisons should be dominant over public facilities.
Instead of prisoners just sitting in a cell doing nothing, why not put them to work, "Every inmate that works saves taxpayers $5,000 a year"(Smith). There are prisoners that work in greenhouses, that generated $57 million in revenue. As budget cuts rise working prisoners become more and more valuable. Inmates are finding ways to save money by recycling there old mattress, that would of end up in landfills. Some prisons even have their inmates help clean up dirty parks around them. While the prisoners are doing this they are learning skills , that will help them with different jobs. Prisoners that do a good job get rewarded with money bonuses. Prisoners learning how to be more responsible and understand how to become a better person will help them in the up coming future. With the prisoners getting paid for bonuses for good work this will make it feel as if it’s a real job. The experience that the inmates are receiving will help them with jobs once they are released from prison. Prisoners will strive to do better with the bonuses they are receiving, and will understand again what its like work. Now with this happening this will ensure the prisoners will have a better and healthier
American prisoners receive free medical attention, housing, meals, utilities, use of exercise equipment, and laundry services. The cost of these services amount in the billions of dollars a year and government budgets are straining to accommodate these fiscal requirements. “There’s special urgency in prisons these days,” “As state budgets get constricted, the public is looking for ways to offset the cost of imprisonment” (Brown). This economic concern requires work programs to aid in the relief of financial burdens incurred from convicted criminals. Once found guilty of a crime the prisoner needs to take responsibility for the costs incurred. Prison labor has evolved from the day of hard labor, breaking rocks, and making license plates to manufacturing, data processing, electronics, farming, construction, and even customer relations. Prisoners in America need to work, not to be confused with slavery, for economical, recidivism, and responsibility concerns. Work programs are crucial if taxpayers are tired of paying the cost for prison's financial liability, prisoner's family support, and release support programs.
When put into the position of complete authority over others people will show their true colors. I think that most people would like to think that they would be fair, ethical superiors. I know I would, but learning about the Stanford Prison Experiment has made me question what would really happen if I was there. Would I be the submissive prisoner, the sadistic guard, or would I stay true to myself? As Phillip Zimbardo gave the guards their whistles and billy clubs they drastically changed without even realizing it. In order to further understand the Stanford Prison experiment I learned how the experiment was conducted, thought about the ethical quality of this experiment, and why I think it panned out how it did.
The correctional system is based on helping offenders become part of society and not commit any crimes. Many prisons begin the correcting criminals since they are inside the jails, but many prisons do not. Prisons provide prisoners with jobs inside the prison where they get very little pay close to nothing and many have programs that will help them advance their education or get their high school diploma. There are various programs prisons provide to prisoners to help them get a job or have a skill when they are released from prison. In contrast, prisons that do not provide programs or help to prisoners rehabilitate and enter society again will be more likely to commit another crime and go back to jail. The Shawshank Redemption prison did not
Of the many tribulations that plague Americans today, the increase in the amount of African American men and women in prisons is unbelievable. It would be naïve to say that the increase is due to the fact that more African Americans are committing crimes now than before. When in actuality it has very prevalent connections to a systematic plan to incarcerate a race of people by creating harsh drug laws to imprison mostly African American, non-violent drug offenders. Since these drug laws were enforced strictly, African Americans have filled our prison systems in outstanding numbers. Consequently causing an overcrowded prison. Private companies, which contain private contracts with the prison, use the inmates as a source of free or cheap labor. One may ask themselves, "Is this ethical?" Absolutely not. They allow the public to believe that it is beneficial because has no expense to tax payers, however the only real benefit is to the company itself. The company has managed to attain free or cheap labor while simultaneously increasing their net profits.
Is the American Prison System Inhumane? Absolutely. It is badly overcrowded that they have to be sent to some other prison do to that overcrowding. Also, something that people should remember is that not everyone in jail has been convicted; many are awaiting trial or some are trying to immigrate to the US and are being held until their case can be reviewed.
Governor Greg Benson wants to outsource the states medium security prisoners. Outsourcing would mean send inmates in the states prisons out of state to serve their prison sentence. We would be sending these inmates who aren’t just a number; they are fathers, sons, and grandchildren to prisons in states such as Texas or Georgia. He says this will help with over crowding and will save New Hampshire tax payers money. Shipping inmates out of state will hurt the community’s of New Hampshire, it won’t save much money, and is a bad idea.
Private prisons in the United States, came about in the early 1980s when the war on drugs resulted in a mass wave of inmates, which led to the lack of the prison system’s ability to hold a vast number of inmates. When the cost became too much for the government to handle, private sectors sought this as an opportunity to expand their businesses through the prison industry. Since the opening of private prisons, the number of prisons and inmates it can hold has grown over the last two decades. With the rising number of inmates, profits have also substantially grown along with the number of investors. But what eventually became a problem amongst the private prison industry was their “cost-saving” strategies, which have been in constant debate ever
can become a major source of income, not only for the inmate, but also for
Three walls. One toilet seat. Bars made of mild steel and a lock only accessible to men who government calls authority figures. Prison systems are known for three things: to protect the people, to punish the criminal and to rehabilitate the prisoner so that a crime will not be further committed. However, it has been causing ongoing controversy on whether or not it has been stripping away the earned rights of citizens or indeed helping them become “better” for society.
California is suffering from a crisis in the prison system. Its facilities are operating at double capacity and " grossly deficient medical care" is the cause of at least one inmate death per week (Wood, 2008, para. 2). Because of this need for reform, the federal government is stepping in to direct the state prison’s operating procedure. Although the financial choices of each state should be free from federal control, the federal government is still known to put pressure on states to make decisions, especially when lawsuits arise. An example of federal legislation commanding state behavior is busing. The states felt that they should have the autonomy to decide whether racial integration was right for them. The federal government, however, decided in Brown v Board of Education that segregation was unconstitutional, and thus the state governments were forced to comply. In a federal system of government, each level holds its own powers, but one must prevail in cases of disagreement. In America, the federal sector is the "supreme Law of the Land" (U.S. Constitution). For this reason, although California suffers from a $16 billion budget deficit, the federal pressures have forced yet another $7 billion in spending to ensure "upgraded healthcare facilities for prison inmates" (Wood, 2008, para. 1).
Shaw, V. N. (1998). Productive labor: A secondary goal but primary activity. Prison Journal, (78), 186.
Treatment in a prison differs from prison to prison and how the inmates act towards the officers in charge of them. The treatment of the prisoners depend on how they act towards officers, this usually includes following the rules, not fighting, doing what they're told, not trying to escape, etc. If a prisoner or prisoner's acts out of place they are usually met with a punishment,this can differ on what they did, for example if two prisoners were to fight in the comments area of the prison it could cause the rest of the prisoners in the room to get in a fight. When an officer tries to break up the and the prisoners retaliate he is forced to use physical force in which he uses a baton, taser, pepper spray, etc. The humane treatment in this situation would be
We have been taught that we should always follow our priorities, whether it is dealing with jobs, families, education, or faith. Ethical egoism teaches us that if our interests are any one these or something else, we should put it first because these are our values. But how far should we go in protecting our values? Is there a limit of how they should be protected? Am I doing what’s best for my priorities or for me? Although we should protect our values, there needs to be a limit and a focus of how I should protect my values with the best intentions. The film, Prisoners, presents this moral dilemma of torture through the characters’ decisions and emotions.