09-06-2015, 12:08 PM
(09-06-2015, 11:59 AM)Benton Wrote: It depends.
One of the prisons in my area used to have a fully functioning farm. They made furniture, raised cattle and produce. It was good because it taught them a trade. But the prison lost money on it because of labor costs. You have to pay people with skills more, and it's cheaper to spend $9 an hour for a guard to stand there than it is to pay someone with an ag degree twice that to stand there guarding and tell the inmates how to run a combine.
The prisons in my area don't make anything any more, but they are used as municipal labor. They aren't allowed to work on private property, but they do most of the city/county mowing, trash pickup, cleaning and general labor.
Most States do not allow prisoners to produce products for market because private businesses protested against the unfair competition. That is what happened here in Tennessee. Furniture makers complained that it was unfair for them to have to compete against slave labor.
However most of the large prisons have farms where they grow their own food.
I know it is not a very efficient way to create electricity, but I think every prison should have a room with hundreds of stationary bicycles hooked to generators. Prisoners could then earn "good time" by producing electricity. They could have it scheduled so that every bike is in use for 16 hours a day.
