Speak Out: Should Inmates Earn Their Keep?

Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright says he wants to fight overcrowding in prisons and save money at the same time – by putting inmates to work.

WYFF4 reports that Wright is working on legislation with Rep. Bill Chumley on legislation that call for inmates to earn their keep throughout their incarceration.

"We're paying $47.38 a day for a prisoner to sit around and get three square meals a day, and have all his needs met," Wright told WYFF4.

Currently, work programs are available to inmates but on a voluntary basis.

The Associated Press reported on mandatory work programs in New York prisons, which have been in place for more than a decade. Jobs for workers in NY prisons run the gamut from cleaning to taking calls for the state's Department of Motor Vehicles.

That same article cites a 2007 study by the National Research Council that found that work and marriage are more effective than parole supervision in reducing criminal behavior.

While prison work programs can teach inmates valuable skills that can help them get a job upon release, some worry that prison labor will begin to compete with labor in the private sector.

An article in The Nation reports that Florida's prison-based printing business is impacting small print companies in that state.

“It’s bad enough that our companies have to compete with exploited and forced labor in China,” Scott Paul Executive Director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, a coalition of business and unions told the Nation. “They shouldn’t have to compete against prison labor here at home. The goal should be for other nations to aspire to the quality of life that Americans enjoy, not to discard our efforts through a downward competitive spiral.”

What do you think of Sheriff Wright's idea? Should SC prisons and detention centers have mandatory work programs for their inmates?

Tell us in the comments!