> He means that many businesses have made partnerships with the prison system to have inmates make goods for almost nothing.
Worked on a case several years ago where a guy owned a high end custom auto restoration business for the really high dollar vehicles. He would take them conpletely apart, strip the paint, then rebuild each one from the ground up and paint every single part. It was extremely detailed work. The finished autos were breathtaking. Somehow he made a deal with the warden at a state prison facility and they had inmates assisting him by working on some if the vehicles. If memory serves correct, they were removing the serial numbers on the vehicles. Bottom line, yeah this type of stuff really does happen and the inmates work on the “real cheap” but it would be better than sitting in a jail cell all day if you ask me.
And are they not learning a skill they could apply in the real world once they get out? Sounds like a “Win-Win” to me.
Kind of hard translating making license plates as a viable skill on the outside.
Well certainly. I support inmates learning working skills so that, those who get out, can start earning a real living and not have to fall back into crime to support themselves.
However, I also don’t want a justice system that is incentivised to convict people because businesses are willing to contribute to some politician’s, or DA’s campaign because they know that once elected they can start up a business in the prison and have people create profitable products or services for free.
One possible compromise is to allow businesses to intern inmates, who are due to eventually be released. The business can pay them the market rate, with the money going towards those the inmate has harmed or a state fund that would be used to pay victims for wrong done to them, until the inmate has paid fully for his crime.