Prisoner Labor

If the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the four state prison systems GAO visited--Arizona, Florida, Nevada, and Virginia--had to pay the minimum wage to prisoners and did so without reducing the number of inmate hours worked, their tab for inmate labor could total hundreds of millions of dollars more each year. These prison systems generally consider minimum wage for prisoners as unaffordable, even if substantial user fees, such as charges for room and board, were billed to inmates. Prison officials cited large-scale cutbacks in inmate labor as a likely and, in their view, dangerous consequence of having to pay minimum wages. They believe that less inmate work would translate into more idle time, increased opportunities for violence and misconduct, and decreases in routine prison maintenance. On the other hand, some organizations, believing that prison work experiences should reflect those in the general public, view inmate pay differently. Some groups also believe that by not paying inmates minimum or prevailing wages, prison industries have an unfair competitive edge and displace private sector workers.