Prison Labour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Prison Labour - Essay Example There has been a debate for centuries over the issue of imprisonment labour effects upon both prison and non-prison employment. Such effects are based on only subjective confirmation. Supporters of prison labour publicize its communal advantages through minimized prison's expenses, better performance among the inmates, probable decline in inmate violence, and corrective remedy by means of social skills development. Whereas antagonists raise the objection that prison labour creates joblessness and decline in sales in the outer world.1 Significance of Prison Labor As stated by Buck2 labour is said to be a fundamental element within prison's affairs. It is considered as a source of not only the reprimand but a corrective measure also, it is being perceived as a straitlaced compulsion and a rehabilitation attempt as well. According to Focault3, prison labour aims to create a legitimate power relation, a notion of submission on the part of inmates and a corrective and constructive mechanism. Focault marks down the value of profit as a work stimulus, though, during the period of escalating industrialized development, the amounts of profits are great. As incarceration work is based on the dynamic of compliance to authority and dominance, thus it always has a threat of revolt and aggression, that is, to respond ethically and morally in debauched circumstances full of oppression and humiliation. Forced labour seems to be morally wrong although being validated for centuries by the church as a corrective mode. Efficiency and labour may not be parallel at times. Labour is a calculated product for organizing pursuit of mankind apparently to have profit, but may be different for others who claim to have all sources of production like human resource, minerals, land etc. They inscribe it through an ethical angle for the development of improved lifestyle such as stability, compliance and passivity. Labour, if viewed as a planned and quantifiable object, seems to be a manipulation of human resource and an inspiration for producing worth. Mental labour is also probable to be apprehended by those making payments to scientists and educators, o r giving salaries to technical employees.4 Rights of Prisoners for Prison labour Prisons are not meant to be particularly hospitable places, punishment as a goal of imprisonment implies a certain level of discomfort. Since the establishment of punishment by incarceration, prison conditions have had notably harsh effects upon the human body and mind.5 As stated by Johnston6 although conditions have varied over time and between institutions, reformers have constantly voiced concerns over the treatment of prisoners. Approximately four decades ago, federal courts began responding to complaints of inhumane treatment by applying the Constitutional Eighth Amendment prohibition against brutal and extraordinary punishment to demarcate a line between conditions of confinement that are uncomfortable and those which are unconstitutional.7 Along with the expansions of civil rights for inmates, courts mandated the costly reorganization of prisons. The prisons, once characterized by local autonomy and self-rule, were transformed into modern bureaucratic institutions designed to protect prisoners' newly acquired rights.8 International