Should those who are in prison work to pay their rent and food?

Question

Should those who are in prison work to pay their rent and food?

Answer 1

They already do.  It is called restitution.  Each and every prisoner has to pay restitution.  Inmates are required to get jobs within the system.  If they do not, they get written up.  These jobs, however, only pay about 35 cents a day.  About 10-20% of this gets taken out from their pay and goes towards restitution.  Some jobs, however, can pay more if it is a skilled job.  Every dollar that gets sent from friends and family get 10-20% taken out.  After they get out of prison, they have to finish paying the rest of their restitution.  If they do not pay this, the debt goes into collection.

And think about it.  The people who clean are prisoners.  The people who cook are prisoners.  The people who work in the library are prisoners.  They even have prisoners who work outside of the prison for non profit organizations.  If the state payed for people to go into the prison to do these jobs, we would be paying even more to take care of these prisoners.  Also, some of these prisons have contracts to make things, such as license plates (and yes, they do that in some places).  The prisoners only get a fraction for their wages, and the rest of the profit goes to supporting the prison.

They have to work to pay back their debt to society and to pay the victems of their crime.  However, we are paying for prisons and to keep these people who are harmful to society locked away from us.  I feel a lot safer knowing that my tax dollar is keeping these men away.  For those who don't want to pay for this, just think how safe you would feel to not have your tax dollars go to these prisons.  

Answer 2

Yes!

For example,

Someone doesn't have much in life, they commit a crime.

They go to prison, get a place to sleep, regular meals,Sky television, education, games and recreation and even a Library amongst other things.

Prison should be a place where they pay for their crimes, not leech off the rest of society who are decent enough not to break the law.

I am not saying this is the case in all prisons, but in a majority it is,

They should suffer horribly. Rapists, murderers, perverts, thief's, no matter what the crime, they should pay.

They should work long hours to repay the society they have harmed, community service, Whatever, just let them suffer.

Answer 3

Those with violent offenses should be taken out back and shot in the back of the head.  This would save tons of taxpayers dollars as bullets are cheap.

For those with non violent offenses should work to pay off rent and food and cable tv.

Answer 4

No because half of them can not be trusted to be out side their cells they are dangerous i am not saying all of them are but alot are yes i just dont think it would be safe.

Answer 5

Yes and when they get out they should pay restitution for the total cost of their imprisonment, a lot of these duds just take from society and never contribute.

Answer 6

Figure that to do that the best way would be to pay them at least minimum wage. unless they have job skills that on the outside would get them better than that in which case they should be paid the going rate for their skills. out of that money they pay for room board and any restitution in exchange for better conditions at the prison including better food paid for out of inmate income. also include in that the option of schooling to improve their skills in prison both to increase their income in prison and get them better work when they get out.  

Answer 7

In Britain,most prisons demand that inmates do work.

If inmates fail to work,they have all privileges suspended and could be transferred to a prison with a harsher regime.

Prisoners are often paid a wage,if they work every day they can expect to earn up to around £14.This money can then be used to buy from the prison "canteen" where goods such as toothpaste,shampoo and vitamin tablets,and telephone time can be bought at greatly inflated prices.

The profits from the monopolised sales is then , in theory re-invested into prisoner facilities.

Food in prison is of the lowest possible quality and is often obtained free from large corperations looking to dispose of faulty stock.

Portions are small and often below the accepted measures prescribed by the authority.In essence,without outside intervention,inmates will often recieve below the minimum calorific requirements as most prisons operate below the lawful guidelines.

The media has invested many column inches whipping up the law abiding tax conscious public into a frenzy of disapproval over the apparent generous treatment of inmates.The fact is ,they are way off the mark.Prison is an extremely harsh,degrading place rife with drugs,violence and corruption amongst prison officers.

I might point out that half the prison population is of ethnic minority against just 11% of the nation's population.On this premise,it is apparent that most crimes are committed by ethnic minorities.In this case,perhaps it would be better to challenge the source of the problem rather than deal with the symptoms.

End immigration now,repatriate foreign offenders,crime and prison populations halved at a stroke.Job done.

thanks

Answer 8

Should be a good idea.

Decode this lyrics " San Francisco hustle"

Checking in to "Hotel California"

With discounted rates for long term service.

With time.

All wanted to stay out from it too.

Since there is no free lunch.

Luke 6.39-40,41-45,46-49

What do you think?

Answer 9

Yes they should. If I had my way they would live in tents like soldiers and grow their own food and livestock to reduce the burden on law abiding/working class tax payers. The criminals could wear pink jump suits as they pick up trash along the road, planted trees, repaired vandalism, and be part of a state's road crew. I'd also take away their televisions and body building equipment. Going to prison should not be "cool" in any way shape or form.

Just my 2 cents ~ Jeff

Answer 10

yeah i think they should.  and i think they should pay for more than just thier rent and food, they should pay back thier debt to society too.

Answer 11

in some places they do. If your in huber and can get out to work they take your check to pay for rent and such and keep the rest in a "bank" at the place for you. You get whatever is left when you leave. and just wanted to add my two cents if you take away stuff for prisnors to do they fight more etc. so you can't take away everything that would occupy their time or be a way of entertainment. I do agree that they should pay for thenselves and do community work though.

Answer 12

The taxpayers pay for there food and rent.

Answer 13

No.  Being in prison is their punishment.  Those who want to put people in prison ought to foot the bill.  That's part of the cost of keeping a society free of crime same as paying school taxes to educate children is the cost for keeping society educated.  Don't require your children to pay back the cost of an elementary and secondary school education.

Answer 14

I think they would be just as happy to have the rest of us still pay their rent and food. Since we are already paying for their schooling, their health club dues, and their freedom to choose a meal category those are just two more items for us to pick up the bills for.

Maybe their lawyers would want to make a contribution to help out. If they were better at their job then the lawyers' clients wouldn't be in prison anyway.

Answer 15

its called a panopticon.. It was one of Benthams great ideas.. Revisionists have now changed the meaning to a type of prison design.. But it was originally conceived to take advantage of free labor for the benefit of those that run the prison..

Sorry...Im not a fan of slavery in any form

Answer 16

I believe they should. Why should I be footed with the bill? I wouldn't be paying their bills if they weren't in jail. Why should I pay them when they are in jail?

Marcia- They don't get paid 'pennies' in jail. Even if they did, pennies add up over years. Contributing something to their cost is better then nothing.

Answer 17

Work at what?  The pay scale is prisons is PENNIES... it costs thousands per year to maintain a prisoner. Oh, I see you want to pay them more than we pay honest wage earners?  Good idea.  That should be VERY popular.

If we want to maintain a prison system, and we DO, its up to us to foot the bill as part of our shared security.

Where do people come up with these hairbrain schemes?

Answer 18

Absolutely. It would discourage people from going there & it would help relieve the tax burdens.