Working prisoners in the USA: laws, policies, and practical realities
ICPR has today published a comprehensive new briefing paper exploring the law, policy, and practice of prison work in the United States, with a particular focus on Arizona, California, and Texas.
The briefing, entitled “Working prisoners in the USA: Laws, policies, and practical realities”, is the latest in a series of publications from ICPR’s ‘Unlocking Potential’ project. It offers policymakers, businesses, and civil society groups a detailed understanding of how work and employment training opportunities for prisoners are currently structured in these states.
Highlights
The briefing examines recent trends in prison populations across the United States. While the national prison population has declined since 2009, there are significant variations between states, reflecting differences in sentencing frameworks and criminal justice reform efforts.
The legal governance of prison work in the US is described in the briefing. It notes that the US Constitution permits compulsory labour as punishment, and that federal employment protections generally do not apply to work performed by prisoners, leaving regulation largely to individual states.
The briefing details recent policy shifts in each focus state, in order to establish the context for their prison work policies. These include Arizona’s revenue-generating partnerships with private businesses, California’s decarceration policies, and Texas’s ‘justice reinvestment’ reforms aimed at reducing recidivism.
The realities of prison work are also explored. Most prisoners perform tasks to support prison operations, with research showing an increasing stratification of prison work assignments.
Key insights and future research
The paper suggests that prison work in the US primarily functions to subsidise state institutions, rather than to enable exploitation of prisoners’ labour by private interests. Despite low labour costs, many prison industries struggle for economic viability.
Importantly, the briefing underscores a lack of reliable, comprehensive data on the extent and nature of prison work, hindering thorough analysis and informed policymaking. It calls for further research in several areas, including the specifics of ‘prison housework’, long-term outcomes of prison work, implications of penal policy shifts, and innovative models for prison work that balance the interests of prisoners, state institutions, and potential employers.
The research reveals a complex system of prison work, shaped by historical, legal, and economic factors. It aims to contribute to an informed and productive dialogue on the future of prison work in the United States.
The full briefing paper, “Working prisoners in the USA: Laws, policies, and practical realities”, can be accessed here. For more information on the ‘Unlocking Potential’ project and its other publications, please visit the project homepage.
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