Saturday, September 12, 2009

Prison Slave Labour

The few people who think about these things assume that we are made to work. This is partly true, in that about half of all prisoners are in paid employment. A fair proportion of these jobs are really made-up jobs, created to fulfil a managerial employment target. It is rare that a prison job involves more than a Neanderthal level of cognition and even rarer that a job offers any type of meaningful training that can be carried through into future life.

The days of treadmills are long gone. Their modern equivalent is 'contract services' - the Governor sells our labour to outside companies, and we get the smallest proportion of the income.

The largest employer in this prison is the company Bulk Hardware, who pay the Governor to force us to work an average wage of around 75p an hour. If we refuse to do this work, we are subjected to disciplinary procedures that include solitary confinement (http://www.againstprisonslavery.org/).

Such is the desperation of management to keep this contract with Bulk Hardware that nothing is allowed to get in its way -including the law and a semblance of decency. The Governor has targets for getting us out of our cells and in 'purposeful activity’ and the Bulk Hardware contract helps meet that target. It also brings him a nice top-up to his budget. Losing this contract would hurt.

So when one of the most regular and productive prisoners in that workshop was accused by the supervisor of producing shoddy work, it was a big deal - big enough for formal charges to be made against him. These were thrown out, due to evidence that all was not as it seemed. So far, so fair. Except that another manager decided that the allegation was true and rather than risk upsetting Bulk Hardware, sacked him.

Why should you give a damn? Apart from the small matter of prisoners being made slaves for private companies to profit, of course? You should care because you are being robbed in this scheme. Robbed twice, in fact. Where you fork out over £30,000 a year for each of us to be 'treated', made better before we're turfed back into your communities, the reality is that the Institution trousers this chunk of taxes for staff wages. These staff supervise our labour for outside companies. These companies then sell you their goods at a massive mark-up, as they have the advantage over their competitors of cheap forced labour. You get robbed of your taxes and robbed by the prices on the goods we are forced to produce.

Bulk Hardware packs items for DIY stores. Screws, bolts, hooks, are counted into little plastic bags by prisoners for you to buy at 1000% mark-ups. Your ignorance of the realities of prison labour allows you to play your little part in this sordid game. But now you don't have any excuses.

12 comments:

  1. Very powerful stuff Ben. Liberal Conspiracy blog has a post today on prison labour.

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  2. If this is proven as true I will be outraged. But given that it is all just conjecture I must ask of you...

    ...evidence please.

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  3. Good Lord. I am totally devastated by the prison systems in your country. The statistics are so depressing. Our country (NZL) is following the US in your models and so we are trying to stop the government as we speak. I saw Angela Davis speak last year, she was emotionally moving to hear, and again it is the stats that speak for the criminality of the system its self. I am proud that you are doing such a good thing by letting your voice sing. Also Ben I had a 'vision of a fully sustainable model for a prison, the only thing is with all the money made from

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  4. the current system there seems to be little chance for us to be able to make the changes that are so desperately needed. I am so sorry for the lack of compassion, healing and understanding prisoners get, as a human, I am deeply sorry for the pain we cause in the name of gain. I hope you are well Ben, if there is anything I can do to help your voice soar please let me know. Also let the good men locked up with you know there is someone, very far away who cares about them, some one who crys with them and some one who wants to help. Lots Of Love Lola

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  5. Good morning Ben the trouble is we have a corrupt goverment who thinks it is OK to log up their expenses by purchasing porn and buying houses for their ducks. The country is in ruins . I too am sad to hear of what is happening and am glad of your blog so that we on the outside may have knowledge of what is going on on the inside.



    IRONSIDE

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  6. So often companies like this use cheap labour from 3rd world countries but all credit to them for using miscreants and ne'er do wells to boost their profits.
    I'm off to spend a tenner at somewhere that stocks Bulk Hardware goods.

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  7. Prisoners are in Jail for a reason. Personally I'm surprised that prisoners even get paid anything..... It really angers me when people commit crimes but still expect an easy life... If you can't take the punishment then don't commit the crime!!

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  8. Anon, agree prisoners are in Jail for a reason. They are also serving their time and one day they will be released.,,,What would you prefer someone who has been treated like dirt and comes out with a chip on his shoulder hating the world, or someone who has spent his time wisely and comes out a reformed character.
    We must have mercy, otherwise we destroy our inner selves.

    IRONSIDE

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  9. "Your ignorance of the realities of prison labour allows you to play your little part in this sordid game. But now you don't have any excuses."

    - Except that I need to buy some screws for my latest DIY project.

    Slave labour, oh please! Given that virtually everything on sale in the UK has come from a sweat-shop, where the people really are living in awful conditions, perhaps having stuff produced in a safe environment by prisoners who get a roof over their heads and 3 square meals a day seems less unreasonable, don't you think?

    Anyway, as usual your point is unclear... is it the fact that prisoners are expected to work that you are unhappy about, or the fact that the jobs aren't good enough for you and your PhD?

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  10. Anon. Or can we call you "the spineless sniper"? I think the piece is clear. Being punished by the state is one thing, being used as slave labour for private companies is quite another. And what of the lifers who are over tariff, no longer held as punishment? Should they be forced to work?

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  11. Anon- a criminal with a brain and aspirations! It's killing you, isn't it? Perhaps you want prisoners to be unskilled and uneducated on release. Are you a police officer trying to boost future business?

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  12. You can call me the spineless sniper if you like, I don't mind.

    Me, I'd love it if prisoners came out rehabilitated, with some life skills and a job to walk into...
    I was just curious as to the point of the thread...so, would it be ok if they were required to do charity work instead, or if they were paid minimum wage?

    Comes back to the 'what is the point of prison' question again, which was the bit I was hoping Ben was going to talk about, as I am sure he has lots of interesting thoughts about this.

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