[ktsmith]

You might want to actually know what you are talking about before commenting. Inmates earn an hourly wage (not great), training on how to do the work, etc. The money they earn gets split up in a few different ways such as going to restitution if applicable and some is available for the inmates to spend at the canteen or save for when they get out.

[mmanfrin]

In Nevada they earn 13 cents an hour.

http://prisonlaw.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/prison-labor-and-t...

That's slave labor.

[ktsmith]

Care to provide the source for the $0.13/hr? Inmates are paid as little as $1/hr and as much as minimum wage with the lowest hourly rate going to the inmate firefighters due to how the budget is set by the forestry service. The last time I saw the $0.13/hr number trotted out it was also skewed by jobs that paid per piece and not per hour. Inmates that have to pay restitution pay about 5% of their wages, and each working inmate pays deductions for room and board as dictated by the state legislature. I've also seen those with an agenda perform hourly wage calculations on the inmate pay _after_ deductions. If you've got a reputable source that can show otherwise I'd love to see it. I'll also note that I'm related to a recently retired department of corrections officer and have used other prison industries services and am familiar with how it works and what the wages are from dealing with the services and the personell running parts of prison industries in Nevada.

wsj article on prison industries in nevada: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020391180457665...

High Desert Prison with current work being done and wages (most facilities don't list wages): http://www.doc.nv.gov/?q=node/25

A now very outdated paper on the economic impact of SSI on Nevadas economy which includes a small section on wages: http://www.cabnr.unr.edu/uced/Reports/Technical/fy1998_1999/...

[CamperBob2]

Whether a job is "slave labor" has absolutely nothing to do with what the job pays. If you are not forced to do the job, you are not a slave.

[forgetcolor]

13 cents PLUS room, board, power, water, garbage, etc

[bosch]

Perhaps you'd rather have these exceptional citizens just staying in their bunks not doing anything or even better, back in society?