Crime Reporter: Pay Prisoners The Minimum Wage For Their Labor
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Rich Zeoli talked to crime reporter Josh Kovensky on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT about paying prisoners minimum wage for the work they do while incarcerated.
Kovensky has a problem with the system in place now and the amount of money prisoners are currently credited for their work.
"Yes, the government is getting money by using prisoners as labor, but there's a larger ethical question of whether or not it is okay to pay people as low as 25 cents an hour for labor, regardless of what they've done in the past."
He said that families often suffer when someone is sent to prison and paying them for the work they do would pay off in the long run.
"There are massive unintended costs for not paying prisoners for the labor they do. We're denying their families an extra source of income. A lot of people in prison tend to be young men who have people who rely on them, and when they're put in jail, their families are cut off from a possible source of income. Society loses potential production. Society loses potential value."
Kovensky also stated that the money inmates earn will help them, upon release, from returning to a life of crime.
"I don't see anything wrong with them having extra money when they get out of prison to have a safety net so they can actually build a new life for themselves. A lot of this has to do with the possibility of redemption, and I think that's one of the most important things to come out of giving prisoners minimum wage."
