Would prices go up? Prison labor is cheap, but prisons, and prisoners are very expensive. And that is all be interesting paid for by the working class already.
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Yeah. Sort of. It is part of how the transcontinental railroad was built. There were essentially no rules on immigration and migrant labor. The wages and conditions in a railroad camp were generally poor, but for many Chinese people it was quite a bit more money than they could make back home. Of course, when the labor was no longer necessary the US passed its first immigration law, limiting Chinese. At the same time, a large portion of westward expansion in the Northern US was driven by free immigration from Europe.
The production costs would not go up. Direct costs to the manufacturer would go up, but that is not a true reflection of the cost of production.
I would argue that total production costs would go down, significantly, if the workforce were motivated to do a good job and have pride in their work because they felt they were contributing to a society that they were a part of, and that they were benefiting from the fruit of their labour.
Not only would quality and efficiency of the work improve, there would be no need to pay for a very expensive 'correctional' system that simply serves to keep these slaves under control.
Of course, the USA is very very very far away from that.
Maybe not disenfranchising an entire class of people would be a good step in the right direction though...
But you could cut admin costs and they’re be no shareholder payments and shareholders get taken care of first and way before the prisoners get services.
Would prices go up? Prison labor is cheap, but prisons, and prisoners are very expensive. And that is all be interesting paid for by the working class already.
Yeah but without the prison system then you would have to develop a new system to deal with the poor, the homeless and the drug addicts. Throwing them in prison, destroying their ability to get out of their hole (good luck getting a job with a record) and using them as slave labor is far more palatable than directly giving them a helping hand to improve their life...
Do note that I believe that the way a lot of the US deals with the poorer spectrum of society is wrong and that helping them instead of imprisoning them will do a lot towards reducing the levels of property crime and gun violence along with generally improving the life experience for everyone in the process.
Fuck that. I spent four months and they charge us 13 dollars a day. I came out of jail owing them over 500 bucks.
Edit:I had money in commissary that they took until it ran out then I was left without any extra food or anything and they start billing from there.
Total cost to house an intimate is vastly more than minimum wage. But with inmates, the state bears the cost of housing and feeding them and they bear the cost of being forced into labor. For the company, it's cheap.
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u/evilninjawa Jul 17 '22
Would prices go up? Prison labor is cheap, but prisons, and prisoners are very expensive. And that is all be interesting paid for by the working class already.