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Washington lawmaker introduces proposal to pay prisoners minimum wage
Rep. Tarra Simmons contends that the 13th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which outlawed slavery, excluded inmates and that allowed states to continue ‘exploiting’ pe...
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The justification for paying inmates based on the 13th amendment is bogus. Inmates forced their victims into slavery when they deprived them of their property, lives or health when they robbed, beat, raped or killed them. Handing over property at gunpoint turns the citizen into a slave of the robber. Prison is supposed to be punishment, not a job.
I have mixed feelings on this one. From one perspective, they are in prison for crimes committed, and should stay in prison for the duration. From another perspective, if they are doing productive work while in prison, at the request of the prison, which benefits the state or some other organization, they should be compensated. Not compensating them could be considered slavery…
They are compensated with free housing, food, clothing, security and utilities. These benefits far outweigh the value of services they provide.
If the inmates were full participants of the economy, then yes, they should be entitled to minimum wage, but since they have free room and board provided by taxpayers, not so much. The other option would be to give them minimum wage, but have them pay for their housing.