[jstelly]

A bunch of this is for the "transitional work program" which sounds more like a way for prisoners to get out of prison more smoothly: http://www.doc.louisiana.gov/transitional-work-program

I don't know anything in particular about the program, but why do you think the business should pay the prevailing wage? How many prisoners would get hired with that requirement vs. without it? As a business owner why would I prefer to hire a prisoner instead of someone not in prison? Or am I thinking about it the wrong way? It sounds like hiring a prisoner benefits the prison system and the prisoner (and also the business as long as there is an incentive of some kind).

[maxerickson]

Because it puts the business owner ahead of their competitors and neighbors (they are gaining from the favor of the state).

You make a fair point of incentives to hire prisoners rather than others though.

[jstelly]

There are going to be costs, but maybe this is actually a relatively low-cost option for helping to get prisoners back out into the world (and not back into prison). It is certainly cheaper than keeping them in prison. It says on that page that 10-20 percent of prisoners stay with their employer after being released. That seems low to me, but I haven't studied other solutions to this problem for comparison.