Should Convicts be allowed Minimum wages while serving time in prison?

also since im propably the only person whose been to jail here.....that playstation can be the difference between doing your time and getting into fights and drama...this is about more than just money people die in prison but if youd rather that happenn so it would be more cost effective then its whatever...but it boils down to isnt this america the most prominent job in prison is construction which normally pays around ten dollars an hour but instead we pay them a few cents

You're in prison because you did something wrong. If you get into "fights and drama" then too bad. It's punishment, not a vacation.

Criminals should feel privileged to live in such a civilized time in such a civilized society.

ok maybe its easy on the outside to say something like that cause its civilized out here but try watching the only friend you had in there get jumped by five people doing life and stabbed to death.....is that civilized?......there are people such as myself who would rather just stay in there cell all day and keep to themselves and just serve thier time....but theres people in there that are only looking to do what they did on the outside extort kill and sell drugs.....whats the point in working if your gonna bust your ass and then get enough to buy half a candy bar....and people wonder why prison riots happenn.....imean if your going to put that many criminals together you better have some way to keep them from killing each other or you might as well give them all the death penalty...what about the pothead whos never hurt anyone but himself that goes to jail and dies as a result of someone with nothing to lose and nothing better to do.....its crazy to me how people can so easily look the other way while people who cant defend themselves are put around murderers....your a product of your environment so if you dont give them something constructive to do what do you expect them to be like when they get out

[edit on 28-6-2007 by justanothergangster]

I guess you should have thought about that before you broke the law. Too bad its not accommodating enough for you and scary stuff happens .

Thats the price you pay for breaking the law. Your lucky your in the USA and not in Mexico or some other 3d world country because they would laugh at you if you asked for a Playstation.

ok maybe its easy on the outside to say something like that cause its civilized out here but try watching the only friend you had in there get jumped by five people doing life and stabbed to death.....is that civilized?......

No thats why people go to jail instead of mingling with society.
So you expect to break the law and go to a jail where everyone is civilized? No such thing!

All the things you bring up are things that should be considered before you break the law not after. So you broke the law and now you have to pay, I say take your punishment like a man and stop whining. Your supposed to be uncomfortable thats the point!

and the point is were still american citizens you dont know what its like behindthose walls....you may not hear about but gaurds turn the cameras off beat you do whatever they feel like cause theres nothing you can do about....no such thing as luxury even if you have a playstation your still sleeping on about 3/4 of an inch of matress plus you dont get three hots you get two...and the meals about 65 cents is spent on them....maybe you should think about this every inmate thats playing playstation isnt stabbing a gaurd since you refuse to feel sympathy convicts which might i add are still people but i geuss it doesnt matter if they die....just another black man or mexican off the streets right? like i said then why dont we al just get the death penalty to take the geuss work out of it......a mans sentenced to jprison for a year on a drug charge but instead of going back to his family he gets stabbed and died....tell his family he should have thought about that before he broke a law iim certain theyll understand

I don't think they should get paid at all. I think prison should be so terrible that people don't want to risk going there. I don't think they should have cigarettes or Playstations or cable. I'm sorry. It's not a hotel.

Originally posted by justanothergangster
you dont know what its like behindthose walls....

I think more people should know what it's like. I think it would go a long way in discouraging people from ending up there...

you may not hear about but gaurds turn the cameras off beat you do whatever they feel like cause theres nothing you can do about....

That's a different issue. That is not going to be solved with money.

even if you have a playstation your still sleeping on about 3/4 of an inch of matress plus you dont get three hots you get two...

A great reason not to go there, huh? You talk like you had no choice in being there. I don't even have 2 hot meals a day!

This kind of "entitlement" attitude puzzles me! Why do criminals deserve 1 or 2 or 3 hot meals?

just another black man or mexican off the streets right?

Oh, so someone who doesn't like supporting a cushy lifestyle for a convict is a racist, now? I should have known...

a mans sentenced to jprison for a year on a drug charge but instead of going back to his family he gets stabbed and died....tell his family he should have thought about that before he broke a law

He should have thought about that. He put himself in a very dangerous position. Prison is hell. And it should be.

Guards breaking the law is an issue that needs to be dealt with, but it's not going to be fixed with a Playstation or minimum wage.

Boohoo poor criminals, I feel so sorry for how they are treated.
I know a few convicts that spent HARD time and got out and made themselves a productive part of society.

And hell, you can get shanked on the streets just as easy as you can on the inside. Its a crazy world we live in and life ain't going to be a bed of roses when you get locked up. Buck up and be a man and stop complaining.

And BTW I too have done time so don't try to tell me I don't know what its like. You sound like you would be somebody's bitch in prison. Its all fine and dandy till you have to pay huh?

Originally posted by Freedom ERP
Maybe I have missed something but convicts are serving time in prison because they have been found guilty of breaking the laws the majority of us want to live by.

Why pay them at all?

They should work and any monies should be used to pay compensation to their victims. If any thing is left over, it should be used to fund prisons.

Lets get convicts sorting rubbish for re-cycling for example.

You -wait I have a warning-! What if their isn't a victim? Where would the money go? I believe we shoud pay them atleast 3 dollars a day. Why do I believe this? Because more vices such as pornography and smokes can be bought with the money and reduce gang violence offer cigarettes and the such. Also haveing something to do keeps you from thinking of ways to get out, prevents going crazy, and would PROBABLY reduce planned gang attacks and racial tensions would drop drastically.

Originally posted by Digital_Reality


And hell, you can get shanked on the streets just as easy as you can on the inside. Its a crazy world we live in and life ain't going to be a bed of roses when you get locked up. Buck up and be a man and stop complaining.

Good point, problems exist. Lets not try to solve them.

It costs $54 a day to keep a person in prison, 75 million dollars a day nationaly, thats 28 BILLION dollars a year. I prefer them have their own money so the prisoners can buy their stuff, not the government or the facility they are in.

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[edit on 28-6-2007 by Cydonian Priest]

Just like a previous poster pointed out where do you think the money to pay them is going to come from?

Originally posted by Digital_Reality
Just like a previous poster pointed out where do you think the money to pay them is going to come from?

A NEW TAX! BUSH WILL DO IT!

my point is anything a convict is doing besides stabbing another prisoner or gaurd i s preferable if you had control of the jail there would be riots happening all the time im not talking about living a cushy lifestyle im talking about people NOT DYING but there seems to be a lack of regard for human life here and as a matter of fact whenii was in noone could work noone could watch tv noone could do anything except sit around and let tension build up...until someone got stabbed and killed then locked down for 72 hours then wed play the waiting game till someone else lost there life whats a little money if it keeps someone or A INNOCENT GAURD from losing there life but hey i geuss human life isnt worth 5.35 an hour hell i would be happy for 1 dollar an hour and what about the estimated quarter of prisoners that are innocent but lets just let them all die kill each other off so what is the price of human life? or do you even care?.....and im not rascist its called sarcasm look into it....i am mexican and this pretty much seems to be the consensus from my point of view just let the problem "work" itself out prisons currently isnt helping anyone right now and from what itseems noone wants to see anyone better themselves

oh and yes the money comes from tax dollars.....but where do you think liscense plates come from? who do you think constructs add ons to the prison? who do you think cooks the food do you realize how much it would cost to pay a governemnt worker to cook the food? its not just giving the money away its avoiding using a contractor which would costs a lot more money then paying someone minimum wage....maybe you should ask some other questions like if it costs 54$ a day to house a inmate then why is the meals 60 cents apiece wheres that money really goinggiving them minimum wage is not going to make jail some utopian paradise

Originally posted by justanothergangster
oh and yes the money comes from tax dollars.....but where do you think liscense plates come from? who do you think constructs add ons to the prison? who do you think cooks the food do you realize how much it would cost to pay a governemnt worker to cook the food? its not just giving the money away its avoiding using a contractor which would costs a lot more money then paying someone minimum wage....maybe you should ask some other questions like if it costs 54$ a day to house a inmate then why is the meals 60 cents apiece wheres that money really goinggiving them minimum wage is not going to make jail some utopian paradise

I had suggested earlier on in the posting about bringing more outside jobs to the correctional centers OR placing cons outside in (strictly monitored) factory work.

Do they still have the 'road gangs' (not chain gangs) doing outside jobs (road maintenance -whacking weeds, litter clean-up, etc) in the southern states?

Outside contractors could pay the cons wages. Just a thought.

Originally posted by justanothergangster
oh and yes the money comes from tax dollars.....but where do you think liscense plates come from? who do you think constructs add ons to the prison? who do you think cooks the food do you realize how much it would cost to pay a governemnt worker to cook the food? its not just giving the money away its avoiding using a contractor which would costs a lot more money then paying someone minimum wage....maybe you should ask some other questions like if it costs 54$ a day to house a inmate then why is the meals 60 cents apiece wheres that money really goinggiving them minimum wage is not going to make jail some utopian paradise

*claps* Here, here! It would be cheaper to just let the criminals keep the car stereos.


[edit on 28-6-2007 by Cydonian Priest]

yes they still let people clean up highays and some people get work release where they are transported to work and transported back i dont know anything about payment for that....the only thing im saying is ive watched people die...ive heard people get raped and if youd let them have more stuff maybe that would curb but everyone just says the same thing should of that about that before you committed the crime....you stop murders outside the prison but they wont let the gaurdss in with us to protect us...or do avery much else to curb the violence and noone cares....because in the eyes of everyone we might as well be animals....im not specifically talking about myself i could care less about jail.... cause i can handle myself im talking about the peole that cant and i saw alot and they didnt make it out....i dont want any sympathy for myself i want to see less people die...expecially gaurds who were just doing there job but someone didnt have anything better to do and geuss where they took it out

Originally posted by Wildbob77
I'm all for paying the convicts minimun wage but then you need to charge them for room and board.

The taxpayers shouldn't have to foot the bill for these misfits incarceration. Instead, pay them minimum wage and charge for their room and board.

Good idea.

You are one of the people that I am talking about. Have you really thought about your answer logically?

When you say, pay them min wage .... Who do You think is gonna be paying them?

When you say, the taxpayers shouldn't have to foot the bill... You just said the TAXPAYERS should give them a raise.

You just don't get it, you must be a product of the public school system.

Where2hide2006?

I've given a few viable solutions to eleviating the burdon on tax payers.

What are your thoughts on them?

Edit to add: Also, I must inquire as to what you meant in your quote: "You just don't get it, you must be a product of the public school system."


[edit on 28-6-2007 by TheDuckster]

[edit on 28-6-2007 by TheDuckster]