It's effectively slave labour, as much as you may feel they should be punished, we as a society decided that we shouldn't force people to work and also people should be paid for their work. If you choose to lock someone up as punishment for a crime that's one thing, but if you want them to perform labour then they need to be paid for that labour, otherwise they're a slave
Slave labour in prison
- Thread starter Tefal
- Start date
wait, since when was in normal in the uk to put people in solitary for not working.
in the uk isn't working a privilege where you get extra money to spend.
entire system needs to be overhauled. Currently based far to much on revenge and outdated thinking.
Should be equal amounts of keeping the public safe and rehabilitation. As science has proved over the decades, this is best for society. Not the call for blood and hard prison that time and again has shown to make things worse.
While we are at it, get rid of victim impact statements. Which idiot came up with them.
so because one person handles a situation worse than the other it should affect sentencing. just wtf. Victim impact should have no bearing. Sentence for the crime, not how the victim handled it.
in the uk isn't working a privilege where you get extra money to spend.
entire system needs to be overhauled. Currently based far to much on revenge and outdated thinking.
Should be equal amounts of keeping the public safe and rehabilitation. As science has proved over the decades, this is best for society. Not the call for blood and hard prison that time and again has shown to make things worse.
While we are at it, get rid of victim impact statements. Which idiot came up with them.
so because one person handles a situation worse than the other it should affect sentencing. just wtf. Victim impact should have no bearing. Sentence for the crime, not how the victim handled it.
Soldato
Soldato
They need to bring back the screw.
Soldato
As above, they are effectively housed/fed/etc. for free - makes sense that they are paid a reduced rate to account for that. If they were paid "normal" wages, then you could effectively go to prison for a few years, save the majority of your ~£20k "salary" (figure plucked out of my **** which is half way between NMW and the UK average
), buy a house mortgage free in many parts of the country and be laughing all the way to the bank... Hell, I'd go to prison for 4 years to pay off my mortgage at 36 
Man of Honour
I dunno, if the stories are true then sitting in the cell sounds fine. Playstation and Sky TV
Soldato
So what else are they going to do all day? Anyone who thinks prison (punishment) is locking someone up so they can play xbox/watch tv and be fed 3 square meals a day is punishment is having a laugh when the rest of us are working and trying to get by. I know they lose their liberty but some treat it like a holiday. Work is part of rehabilitation
Benefits of working are
- learn new skills in various jobs
- gives you a work ethic and prepares you for a normal working life outside
- the low wages gives some sort of financial responsibility
If I wanted to go to college to learn a skill or learn on the job then I'd have to pay for it or it would be minimum wage
Benefits of working are
- learn new skills in various jobs
- gives you a work ethic and prepares you for a normal working life outside
- the low wages gives some sort of financial responsibility
If I wanted to go to college to learn a skill or learn on the job then I'd have to pay for it or it would be minimum wage
This just all sounds like complete nonsense and a right silly idea. So we pay them, to then tax them etc etc, why not just give them money minus the tax/NI that they would then pay for HMRC to have to claim it back. Almost as backwards as tax credits, but prisoner credits instead.
I didn't know about victim statements, but to me they sound fair, of course if should impact the sentencing, why should it not? Everyone is different and is able to process/accept the crime against them in different ways.
for that very reason?
why should it have any effect on sentencing. because you where lucky and some handled it well, you should get a more favourable sentence?
it makes no sense at all. Sentence for the crime. it also imo biases juries. if someone comes in and is all how terrible it is, it will affect a jury far more than someone who has coped well. These are variables that we should be looking to get rid off, not add in.
http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/v_to_z/victim_personal_statements/
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Soldato
This necessitates work being mandatory otherwise some work and others don't, but both get the same treatment. Minimum wage working in prison is barely going to cover the costs of keeping them there. So yes, it's forced servitude i.e. slavery.
Plus as pointed out slavery competes with regular employment to the detriment of the latter. Though I suppose it would offset some immigration. But the moment you turn prisons into profit generators through forced labour, you get what the USA has - a massive prison-industrial complex undermining people who want to work and exerting influence to make imprisonment favoured over less drastic means of sentencing people.
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Associate
Thought they did this in Japan also 
I admit I was only thinking of this as a negative impact and having say a standard sentence of 10 years for said crime then plus extra for harm and additional things added, no way reducing original sentence just because no extra suffering was caused.
Man of Honour
They're not working for free, they're working for £36,259 a year.
This.
As soon as they went to prison it cost us the taxpayer around £36,000 a year and some think they should be paid a decent wage
Do Gooders.
This.
As soon as they went to prison it cost us the taxpayer around £36,000 a year and some think they should be paid a decent wage
Do Gooders.
I wish I lived in black and white world
Soldato
- Joined
- 7 Jan 2009
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- 6,371
They threw away their freedom when getting into trouble by breaking the law.
They should be forced to earn their keep,keeping them fed,warm and dry + the costs of staffing and maintaining the prisons costs all us hard working tax payers,Why should they just lounge about all day in a prison,playing pool and watching TV.
You know our prisons in the UK are a joke when people commit crimes just a day after been released to get back in,because its easier than living in the real world.
They should be forced to earn their keep,keeping them fed,warm and dry + the costs of staffing and maintaining the prisons costs all us hard working tax payers,Why should they just lounge about all day in a prison,playing pool and watching TV.
You know our prisons in the UK are a joke when people commit crimes just a day after been released to get back in,because its easier than living in the real world.
Soldato
Prison is such a delicate balancing act. If you make it too easy it becomes no deterrent for offenders.
Make it hard and the criminals get harder.
The hardest prisons do not produce the lowest re-offenders. I doubt the softest ones do either.
Make it hard and the criminals get harder.
The hardest prisons do not produce the lowest re-offenders. I doubt the softest ones do either.
Soldato
All prisoners should be sent to the quarries to break up stone, by hand. No comforts in the cell. Slop out. Bring back hard labour and a tough life in prison.
They have it so easy.
They have it so easy.
Everybody should strive to do the opposite of what Florida does
Man of Honour
Enlighten me, what is your answer?
Should we put them on minimum wage and put a roof over their head and free food?
Or perhaps you would just let them off?