In America, around two million people are contained in state, federal, and private prisons. Studies have shown that the United States has imprisoned more people than any other country. One and a half million more people in the United States have been locked up compared to China, and China has five times greater the population than the United States. The United States holds twenty-five percent of the world’s prison population, but only five percent of the world’s population.
The Progressive Labor Party has accused the prison industry of being “an imitation of Nazi Germany with respect to forced slave labor and concentration camps.” (Pelaez) Many people accuse the prisons of locking people up in order to contract people for work, because they …show more content…
“Applying a growth economics framework, it is clear that expansion of prison labor can be good for the U.S economy, increasing total employment and Gross Domestic Product, while not reducing private sector employment levels.” (Atkinson) Evidence has shown that the inmates are less likely to return to their criminal actions after being required to work, and that the prison work helps pay for the costs of housing, victim restitution, child support, and other things in the prisons. Instead of taking taxes and money from the citizens to pay for the prisons, the prisoner’s work supplies these resources in the prisons. This prison work increases the production of goods and services, and supports the U.S economy.
Prison labor has two main benefits. First, it reduces inmate recidivism, thereby reducing crime and lowering prison costs. Second, if done right, it produces “profits” which can be used to offset the taxpayer-financed costs of incarcerating prisoners. (Atkinson)
Studies have shown that inmates who work in prison industries have had better outcomes after they are released from prison.
“As new workers begin producing output, existing workers aren’t displaced permanently. They get jobs again and produce goods and services. In this case, the economy is better off because both civilian and prison workers are producing output. Supply creates its own demand.”
The Progressive Labor Party has accused the prison industry of being “an imitation of Nazi Germany with respect to forced slave labor and concentration camps.” (Pelaez) Many people accuse the prisons of locking people up in order to contract people for work, because they …show more content…
“Applying a growth economics framework, it is clear that expansion of prison labor can be good for the U.S economy, increasing total employment and Gross Domestic Product, while not reducing private sector employment levels.” (Atkinson) Evidence has shown that the inmates are less likely to return to their criminal actions after being required to work, and that the prison work helps pay for the costs of housing, victim restitution, child support, and other things in the prisons. Instead of taking taxes and money from the citizens to pay for the prisons, the prisoner’s work supplies these resources in the prisons. This prison work increases the production of goods and services, and supports the U.S economy.
Prison labor has two main benefits. First, it reduces inmate recidivism, thereby reducing crime and lowering prison costs. Second, if done right, it produces “profits” which can be used to offset the taxpayer-financed costs of incarcerating prisoners. (Atkinson)
Studies have shown that inmates who work in prison industries have had better outcomes after they are released from prison.
“As new workers begin producing output, existing workers aren’t displaced permanently. They get jobs again and produce goods and services. In this case, the economy is better off because both civilian and prison workers are producing output. Supply creates its own demand.”