This. If the prisoners are given the option to work instead of spend time in jail, and if they pay them for that labour, even if it’s subsidized or whatever, this goes from questionably legal slavery to a work program for inmates.
It becomes a way for the inmates to get some cash, and gain practical work skills for when they eventually get released. The money should probably be saved for basic needs when released (food, housing, etc) and the work skills can be applied in future jobs. At least they would have some experience with working that will hopefully help them get a job after they’re released.
There’s still a big problem of people hiring ex-convicts, but that’s a separate issue to be solved.
They could have turned this “you mean slavery?” Moment into a PR win simply by making the work voluntary and giving them modest compensation.
Also if it’s a decent company then you might have a job lined up for you once you’re out since you’ve worked there already and shown you can handle the job and so on. And having a job, income, some normalcy once you go out goes a long way. Turns this from exploitation to a way to reintroduce people to life outside of prison and whatnot. Not that companies wouldn’t benefit from this too, since it’d most likely be less money than a normal full-time worker, but it could be a rare win-win situation if handled correctly.
This. If the prisoners are given the option to work instead of spend time in jail, and if they pay them for that labour, even if it’s subsidized or whatever, this goes from questionably legal slavery to a work program for inmates.
It becomes a way for the inmates to get some cash, and gain practical work skills for when they eventually get released. The money should probably be saved for basic needs when released (food, housing, etc) and the work skills can be applied in future jobs. At least they would have some experience with working that will hopefully help them get a job after they’re released.
There’s still a big problem of people hiring ex-convicts, but that’s a separate issue to be solved.
They could have turned this “you mean slavery?” Moment into a PR win simply by making the work voluntary and giving them modest compensation.
Also if it’s a decent company then you might have a job lined up for you once you’re out since you’ve worked there already and shown you can handle the job and so on. And having a job, income, some normalcy once you go out goes a long way. Turns this from exploitation to a way to reintroduce people to life outside of prison and whatnot. Not that companies wouldn’t benefit from this too, since it’d most likely be less money than a normal full-time worker, but it could be a rare win-win situation if handled correctly.