One subject that gets practically no mention by our media or by our political ballerinas, is prison labour. The UK has the most privatised prison system in Europe. Companies make a fortune from incarcerating our citizens, and not content with that, they use the imprisoned population as cheap labour. Those capitive in this slave labour institution are obliged to work and at a particular rate or they can lose "privileges". They have no contract, no sick leave pay, no holiday pay, no opportunity to negotiate their conditions and are paid a pittance while the companies that use them make a killing in profits from this trapped labour force. There is also the view that this cheap labour source takes jobs away from those outside, who would need to be paid at least the minimum wage plus the few other beneficial conditions that the workers have wrestled from the employers.
We can't in all honesty state that we are a civilised society, when we allow slave labour to flourish for the benefit of companies and large corporations. We can't in all honesty state we live in a democracy when a whole swath of our people have no say or control over their wages or working conditions. Prison labour is an abomination, a blight on our society, an anathema to democracy and freedom. However it is all part and parcel of a society that functions only for profit, a system designed to benefit the few at the expense of the many. Those who worship at the altar of capitalism will see nothing wrong in captivated prison slave labour, it is an efficient way of creating wealth for that privileged few.
We can't in all honesty state that we are a civilised society, when we allow slave labour to flourish for the benefit of companies and large corporations. We can't in all honesty state we live in a democracy when a whole swath of our people have no say or control over their wages or working conditions. Prison labour is an abomination, a blight on our society, an anathema to democracy and freedom. However it is all part and parcel of a society that functions only for profit, a system designed to benefit the few at the expense of the many. Those who worship at the altar of capitalism will see nothing wrong in captivated prison slave labour, it is an efficient way of creating wealth for that privileged few.
The following figures are from an IWW article in 2016.
One3One Solutions is the trading arm of the Ministry of Justice founded in 2012. Over 9,700 prisoners were employed in their profit-making partnerships with private companies, with a total of 13.1 million prisoner working hours being recorded (1). Private sector prisons (those run for-profit) reported that they delivered over 1.5 million prisoner working hours involving over 1,200 prisoners in 2012/13. (1) Prisoners working full time at a minimum will receive £4 a week. Prisoners working in workshops run by private companies may earn up to £25 per week if they are lucky. The average pay if you are a wing cleaner or gardener is about £6-7. Rates of pay are set out in the Prison Service Order 4460 (2). If prisoners are sick on the short-term they may get £2.50 a week. For prisoners that simply cannot work because they are ill long-term or old, they receive £3.25 a week. Likewise, Asylum Seekers in Detention Centres (that are all run for profit), are paid at the very most £1.25 per hour(3).
The long list of companies that use prison slave labour reads like a role of honour in the world of exploitative capitalism.
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