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Re:US prison workers produce $11B worth of goods and service... by jarek83 on Friday June 17, 2022 @05:26PM (#31784579)
Since US prisons are private-held then the incentive is already present. I'd say that the incentive would be bigger if you would just 'normally' work and get paid when you commit a crime.
Re:US prison workers produce $11B worth of goods and service... by ch4s3 on Friday June 17, 2022 @05:29PM (#31784610)
Very few US prisons are private, only 8% of prisoners in the US are in those facilities. Some states have recently ended the practice, so I would expect to see that number trend down in the future.
Re:US prison workers produce $11B worth of goods and service... by klabb3 on Friday June 17, 2022 @06:11PM (#31785070)
You don't need private prisons per se in order for the perverse incentive to exist – even thrive and persist. The beneficiaries of prison labor are private interests, whereas the cost of incarceration is paid by the public. It could cost 100k per inmate a year in public money and produce 30k of goods. It's still (virtually) free labor as far as the beneficiaries and their lobbyists are concerned.
Re:US prison workers produce $11B worth of goods and service... by ch4s3 on Friday June 17, 2022 @07:23PM (#31785758)
I’m not in favor of compelled labor, or private prisons. In general I think the ideal would be for the taking of one’s freedom by the state to be rare. I’m merely pointing out that private prisons are a tiny fraction of the whole pie, and almost certainly not “The Problem”.