Our society currently has four problems that are related in many ways; some well-known, others surprising: (1) prison overcrowding, (2) rampant unemployment, (3) governmental budgetary deficits, and (4) prison privatization. Problems (1) and (4) create obvious problems with prison conditions, the latter because the profit motive mitigates against prisoner welfare and because private corporations are not held to the same civil-rights standards as government entities. Also obvious is the causal connections between these problems. Problem (2) probably contributes to (1) and certainly contributes to (3) through lost tax revenue. Bleeding hearts will probably wish to reverse these trends through higher taxation which will directly help (3), indirectly (through social safety-net improvements) help (1), and through helping (3) will lessen the motivation for (4). However, this solution seems unlikely in today's political climate. Therefore another solution is called for.
What has not been noticed sufficiently are the possibilities of expanding upon prison privatization for the general welfare, particularly of prisoners. Putting prisoners to work has a long and established history. Why not, then, tap into this obvious labor resource by converting prisons to dormitory-attached factories, warehouses, and the like for private enterprises? The benefits to all concerned are obvious.
First of all, governments and corporations can both save money by working together. Sharing costs of feeding and housing the inmates, it is conceivable that both will spend less. The usual cost of detaining a prisoner minus the contribution per inmate of the corporation will be the savings of the government. The usual wage of a worker minus the corporation's contribution (probably much less than a living wage--perhaps even less than minimum wage) will be the savings of the corporation. They can then share the profits. Win-win.
Second, the conditions of prisoners can be significantly improved. As long as the enterprise in question is profitable (and why shouldn't it be?), there will always be an incentive to expand operations, thus lessening overcrowding issues. As long as the corporation's contribution (however small) is more than the savings of the government in caring for inmates, spending per inmate will be increased. How can we doubt, moreover, the benefits of contributing to society through good, honest work rather than remaining idle? Businesses wishing to have a productive workforce would obviously wish to keep conditions humane. There will, then, be no need for labor unions and the problems they cause. Additionally, support for the death penalty--which could mean the loss of someones cheap labor--will probably wane. It is conceivable that the practice can be abolished.
Businesses taking advantage of this opportunity might wish to include a nominal wage for their employee-inmates. Prisoners can use their savings to pay reparations to their victims, buying them shorter sentences (at the discretion of the proper authorities, of course), or they can spend them at corporate "stores" on the premises for improvements to their dormitories and other goods. This not only gives them an incentive to work, but can also be profitable for the corporations involved, provided that spending this money in other than authorized ways is prohibited.
As prisoners' conditions improve, the motives for addressing social problems will decrease. Crime will no longer be seen as a scourge, but rather as an opportunity. Governments can save even more money by finally abandoning attempts at addressing poverty and other causes of crime, and focusing solely on arresting criminals and putting them to use. Budgetary problems will become a thing of the past. Perhaps non-inmate wages will be depressed as they are undercut by cheap prison labor, but so what? In fact, there will no longer be any reason for any minimum wage laws. Why should a business spend money on wages that could be spent at prison facilities with greater profit potential?
And once minimum wage laws are abolished, unemployment will decrease. This is for two reasons. First, once labor is cheaper, companies can hire more, as any reputable economist will tell you. And second, the unemployed, who may be tempted into crime, can be rounded up and put to work. There might even be an incentive to pass laws with individual mandates for employment, if necessary. Those who do not work outside of prisons can then be put to work within them without further ado.
Finally, problems with illegal immigration will be mitigated to the advantage of all. Because many enter the country illegally to work clandestinely at menial jobs for less than minimum wage, why not make the whole thing open and above board? That is, why not arrest them and put them to work in prisons doing what they already do anyway? Other solutions have been shown to hurt businesses that depend upon cheap labor. The prison solution avoids that problem.
I hope we can get over our understandable but misguided scruples and put this into practice with all dispatch.
