Hi. Welcome to the blog for my IB English B class at Jur Hronec High School in Bratislava, Slovakia. Below you will find links to other websites and discussion questions. My students are required to comment on one of these postings every month and also respond to each other's comments. Feel free to add your two bits, but be aware that all comments are monitored before being posted.
Is it a good idea to make or allow prisoners
to work?Should they be paid?Are US prisons justified in trying to hide
the fact that prisoners produce certain products?Should Slovakia create similar programs for prisoners?
Everyone deserves a second chance. That’s why I think that it’s a good idea to allow prisoners to work. Firstly, because part of these people never had any real job before, and if we want them to be civilized and working citizens when they leave the walls of prison, we should help them with it. However, I agree with Mr. Lichtenstein that it shouldn’t be only about keeping the prisoners busy, but about giving them some real-world job experiences. Otherwise, I don’t see any good outcome from it. We need to give them their freedom while working or they won’t learn how to figure things out on their own. They won’t learn how to be patient and how to think. That’s what is great on the prison in Canon City, they give them freedom by letting them work. According to James E. Scott, an ex-inmate, in most prisons you don’t get this kind of freedom. And that’s something, I believe should change. We need more prisons like this, to show the inmates that it’s never too late for changes. Secondly, we need to show them that their work isn’t meaningless. The prison-labor program’s director Steve Smith said, “We’re trying to make them into taxpayers instead of tax burdens.” I agree with him. Also, in my opinion, prisoners should be paid for their work. It doesn’t matter if they get $0,50 or $2 per hour. The important fact is to show them that when you work hard you will get something out of it, not just a good feeling. That’s why I wouldn’t have a problem buying something made by a prisoner. I would be happy to show my support. But still, as Lichtenstein said there are people that won’t go to the shops where they sell products grown by prisoners. In conclusion, I believe that working prisoners are good idea for successful future. But it’s not only about their change but also about us.
Firstly, I must agree with both the article and what Rebaca has said. I really agree that it is never too late for changes. That is a great point which can be applied to almost everything in our lives we do not feel satisfied with. I believe that by working, learning new skills and producing some valuable outcome, prisoners are given much greater opportunity to change themselves and prepare for the world out of the walls of prison than just by doing nothing. The idea of turning prisoners from tax burdens into taxpayers sounds good to me because there goes quite a huge amount of money on every prisoner each year, while they basically do not do anything useful in the jail in my opinion. However, I would more likely make them help people in need than to pay taxes. In our country “housing“ costs around 38€ per day for one inmate1 and as far as I know it is a lot more than disabled, seriously ill or socialy unstable people recieve from the goverment. For this reason I do not agree that they should be really paid for it. I would suggest a “helping programme“ instead: every working prisoner will choose someone in need to support them with the gain from the products he/she made.
Immediately, as I have read this article, question came up in my mind. Is acceptable to pay prisoners so little or it is benefit for them if they can work? After a while of thinking I came to the decision that I consider labor work beneficial both for prisoners and for state and government.
The USA has probably the most effective system of labor work. This system is based on fact that prisoners work in small industries which won’t affect any already existing businesses. For instance, water- buffalo diary or husbandry of Hungarian partridges. These small industries won’t whip up any attention of media or unions which would not be able to compete with prison-labor made products which are unequally cheaper. Financial yield which is earned by these companies can be used for re-paying all the charges which are used in lawsuit and also after the defendant is sentenced for prison. Within the labor work I see also another big benefit and that is the fact that prisoners do not need necessarily perform a work outside the prison they can help to run the institution for example as a fireman or serving food to each other. These were mainly benefits for state and government itself, but I believe that work can have a positive influence also on each prisoner. Imagine yourself being locked in your cell for twelve years, having a chance of doing something different that sitting down idle and lifting weights sounds suddenly great. For prisoners work can be distraction from everyday routine and they can even get useful skills which can later on help them to get job faster once they are released.
These were the positives of labor work but the biggest down side I can see is the fact that prisoners get paid too little for the amount of work they do. They are paid bellow American standards given by law and even though they are sentenced for crime they should not be working for minimal wages and the work should be always valued properly.
The idea in general is good but it needs to fix up few things, such as re-packing of products or, as I mentioned above, the low salary of prisoners. Then I would welcome this principle of labor work also in Slovakia because I believe that this system can have many positive effects as for government and for prisoners.
I can agree with Matúš in the main point-the fact that prisoners should not be tax burdens and the government should not be paying for their fault in past. They should be self-sustaining in the way that they will work to repay all the financial commitments to state they made by breaking the law. I can also relate to opinion that work in jail can be beneficial for prisoners, considering the fact that they will acquire new skills, release stress which lead to calmer atmosphere in prison with few fights and also work with animals can be considered as a kind of animotherapy with positive effects on human psyche.
One point in which I must disagree with Matúš is his view on problem of treating prisoners as slaves. Prisoners are usually people with inclination not to respect authorities and they are more likely to cause problems. Therefore I think is necessary to have them under control, but of course all their human rights cannot be violated in any form.
The project of involving prisoners in producing some goods is one of the best ideas that could be made about incarceration. The hand-on approach of imprisoned people in doing some labor can be very beneficial in many ways in their future life. I need to thank CCI which showed the world how a well organized prison work program can work. The convicted felons here work in numerous industries. They work on farms breeding buffalo´s or make license plates. They claim they would never change their prison campus for any other in the world. And they are definitely right, because they are aware of the fact that they wouldn´t get any better conditions for their prison life anywhere else. It might seem the main goal of this program is just to keep the prisoners occupied. However, the possibility to work during their stay in the prison is invaluable. First of all, it helps them to fit to the society when they get back. Moreover, as Mr. Smith claimed, this makes them employable in the future since they are able to gain some work skills. Some of the prisoners with this type of experience while in prison were even so motivated after their stay they set up their own business or farm producing the same things they had learnt. ‘I never had a job in my life [before Cañon City]. Stealing cars was just too good.’ said one of the exprisoners. The labor experience convinced him he can make money not only by illegal work As I have seen in the previous comments, people are unsatisfied because they think it is unfair they get so little money for the work they do. However, I feel it is enough for them. To begin with, the money they earn by selling their products can pay off their crime costs. Moreover, they simply can´t get a lot of money because then prison would become a favorite institution for people. They would have accommodation they don´t need to pay for, free food, and they would even make the same amount of money they earned outside of the prison. Then everybody would love to be a criminal. Another good point in making at least a little of money is that when the prisoners are released, they have a budget they can use to integrate with other people. On the other hand, prison work program has also some drawbacks. The problem is people might find it as sort of exploitation. Since the inmates get only a crumb of the price their products are worth, they ask where the other money goes. They have a strong feeling the directors of these campuses take the rest. In addition, a sore point of this project is that sometimes it is the businessmen that benefit from it the most. Their strategy is to take the products from the prisoners and then re-package it so there is no sign it was made by the inmates. A little bit immoral, isn´t it?
Everyone deserves a second chance. That’s why I think that it’s a good idea to allow prisoners to work.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, because part of these people never had any real job before, and if we want them to be civilized and working citizens when they leave the walls of prison, we should help them with it. However, I agree with Mr. Lichtenstein that it shouldn’t be only about keeping the prisoners busy, but about giving them some real-world job experiences. Otherwise, I don’t see any good outcome from it. We need to give them their freedom while working or they won’t learn how to figure things out on their own. They won’t learn how to be patient and how to think. That’s what is great on the prison in Canon City, they give them freedom by letting them work. According to James E. Scott, an ex-inmate, in most prisons you don’t get this kind of freedom. And that’s something, I believe should change. We need more prisons like this, to show the inmates that it’s never too late for changes.
Secondly, we need to show them that their work isn’t meaningless. The prison-labor program’s director Steve Smith said, “We’re trying to make them into taxpayers instead of tax burdens.” I agree with him. Also, in my opinion, prisoners should be paid for their work. It doesn’t matter if they get $0,50 or $2 per hour. The important fact is to show them that when you work hard you will get something out of it, not just a good feeling. That’s why I wouldn’t have a problem buying something made by a prisoner. I would be happy to show my support. But still, as Lichtenstein said there are people that won’t go to the shops where they sell products grown by prisoners.
In conclusion, I believe that working prisoners are good idea for successful future. But it’s not only about their change but also about us.
Rebeka Zanechalova
Firstly, I must agree with both the article and what Rebaca has said. I really agree that it is never too late for changes. That is a great point which can be applied to almost everything in our lives we do not feel satisfied with. I believe that by working, learning new skills and producing some valuable outcome, prisoners are given much greater opportunity to change themselves and prepare for the world out of the walls of prison than just by doing nothing. The idea of turning prisoners from tax burdens into taxpayers sounds good to me because there goes quite a huge amount of money on every prisoner each year, while they basically do not do anything useful in the jail in my opinion. However, I would more likely make them help people in need than to pay taxes. In our country “housing“ costs around 38€ per day for one inmate1 and as far as I know it is a lot more than disabled, seriously ill or socialy unstable people recieve from the goverment. For this reason I do not agree that they should be really paid for it. I would suggest a “helping programme“ instead: every working prisoner will choose someone in need to support them with the gain from the products he/she made.
Delete1 http://spravy.pravda.sk/domace/clanok/314222-vlani-stal-rocny-pobyt-vazna-za-mrezami-14-tisic-eur/
Immediately, as I have read this article, question came up in my mind. Is acceptable to pay prisoners so little or it is benefit for them if they can work? After a while of thinking I came to the decision that I consider labor work beneficial both for prisoners and for state and government.
ReplyDeleteThe USA has probably the most effective system of labor work. This system is based on fact that prisoners work in small industries which won’t affect any already existing businesses. For instance, water- buffalo diary or husbandry of Hungarian partridges. These small industries won’t whip up any attention of media or unions which would not be able to compete with prison-labor made products which are unequally cheaper. Financial yield which is earned by these companies can be used for re-paying all the charges which are used in lawsuit and also after the defendant is sentenced for prison. Within the labor work I see also another big benefit and that is the fact that prisoners do not need necessarily perform a work outside the prison they can help to run the institution for example as a fireman or serving food to each other. These were mainly benefits for state and government itself, but I believe that work can have a positive influence also on each prisoner. Imagine yourself being locked in your cell for twelve years, having a chance of doing something different that sitting down idle and lifting weights sounds suddenly great. For prisoners work can be distraction from everyday routine and they can even get useful skills which can later on help them to get job faster once they are released.
These were the positives of labor work but the biggest down side I can see is the fact that prisoners get paid too little for the amount of work they do. They are paid bellow American standards given by law and even though they are sentenced for crime they should not be working for minimal wages and the work should be always valued properly.
The idea in general is good but it needs to fix up few things, such as re-packing of products or, as I mentioned above, the low salary of prisoners. Then I would welcome this principle of labor work also in Slovakia because I believe that this system can have many positive effects as for government and for prisoners.
I can agree with Matúš in the main point-the fact that prisoners should not be tax burdens and the government should not be paying for their fault in past. They should be self-sustaining in the way that they will work to repay all the financial commitments to state they made by breaking the law. I can also relate to opinion that work in jail can be beneficial for prisoners, considering the fact that they will acquire new skills, release stress which lead to calmer atmosphere in prison with few fights and also work with animals can be considered as a kind of animotherapy with positive effects on human psyche.
ReplyDeleteOne point in which I must disagree with Matúš is his view on problem of treating prisoners as slaves. Prisoners are usually people with inclination not to respect authorities and they are more likely to cause problems. Therefore I think is necessary to have them under control, but of course all their human rights cannot be violated in any form.
The project of involving prisoners in producing some goods is one of the best ideas that could be made about incarceration. The hand-on approach of imprisoned people in doing some labor can be very beneficial in many ways in their future life.
ReplyDeleteI need to thank CCI which showed the world how a well organized prison work program can work. The convicted felons here work in numerous industries. They work on farms breeding buffalo´s or make license plates. They claim they would never change their prison campus for any other in the world. And they are definitely right, because they are aware of the fact that they wouldn´t get any better conditions for their prison life anywhere else. It might seem the main goal of this program is just to keep the prisoners occupied. However, the possibility to work during their stay in the prison is invaluable. First of all, it helps them to fit to the society when they get back. Moreover, as Mr. Smith claimed, this makes them employable in the future since they are able to gain some work skills. Some of the prisoners with this type of experience while in prison were even so motivated after their stay they set up their own business or farm producing the same things they had learnt. ‘I never had a job in my life [before Cañon City]. Stealing cars was just too good.’ said one of the exprisoners. The labor experience convinced him he can make money not only by illegal work
As I have seen in the previous comments, people are unsatisfied because they think it is unfair they get so little money for the work they do. However, I feel it is enough for them. To begin with, the money they earn by selling their products can pay off their crime costs. Moreover, they simply can´t get a lot of money because then prison would become a favorite institution for people. They would have accommodation they don´t need to pay for, free food, and they would even make the same amount of money they earned outside of the prison. Then everybody would love to be a criminal. Another good point in making at least a little of money is that when the prisoners are released, they have a budget they can use to integrate with other people.
On the other hand, prison work program has also some drawbacks. The problem is people might find it as sort of exploitation. Since the inmates get only a crumb of the price their products are worth, they ask where the other money goes. They have a strong feeling the directors of these campuses take the rest. In addition, a sore point of this project is that sometimes it is the businessmen that benefit from it the most. Their strategy is to take the products from the prisoners and then re-package it so there is no sign it was made by the inmates. A little bit immoral, isn´t it?