| ▲ | charcircuit 15 hours ago | |||||||||||||
>This kind of thing drags down the market rates. Why would the prison / prisoner charge below market rates for their labor? | ||||||||||||||
| ▲ | toomuchtodo 15 hours ago | parent | next [-] | |||||||||||||
https://www.epi.org/publication/rooted-racism-prison-labor/ https://www.walkfree.org/news/2025/13th-amendment-loophole-f... https://www.npr.org/2023/11/13/1210564359/slavery-prison-for... https://www.aclu.org/news/human-rights/captive-labor-exploit... | ||||||||||||||
| ▲ | johnnyanmac 13 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | |||||||||||||
Because it's free money for them either way, and they can undercut the competition, even minimum wage workers, due to the 13th amendment excluding prisoners. The prisoner doesn't really get too much choice in the matter other than taking/rejecting the offer. | ||||||||||||||
| ▲ | jacobr1 14 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | |||||||||||||
The prison could, for grift reasons. They can undercut competition because their costs are lower. If a union, or even a market-rate shop needs to pay, say, $20-hour for labor, and the prison can pay $1-hour (or day) they can charge much less, and then pocket the difference. Their advantage isn't a higher quality product just a cheaper one. | ||||||||||||||
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