The Federal Bureau of Prisons stated that federal prisoners will earn 12 cents to 40 cents per house for jobs serving the prison. In Federal Prison Industries Factories, they may earn 23 cents to $1.15 per hour.
Recently, many prisoners are increasingly working for private companies. Then, a significant cut of even those token wages goes to criminal justice system fees. Therefore, the prisoners have little hope of saving money while in prison.
Then, the lack of money combined with fragile post-release support systems is an explosive formula for reincarceration and recidivism.
Here’s List of Wages Paid to Prisoners per State!
To make it easier for you to know the average wages of prisoners per hour, you can see the list of wages paid per state below.
| State | Regular jobs
(non-industry) |
Jobs in state-owned businesses
(“Correctional Industries”) |
||
| Low | High | Low | High | |
| Alabama | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.25 | 0.75 |
| Alaska | 0.30 | 1.25 | 0.65 | 4.90 |
| Arizona | 0.15 | 0.50 | 0.20 | 0.80 |
| Arkansas | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| California | 0.08 | 0.37 | 0.30 | 0.95 |
| Colorado | 0.13 | 0.38 | n/a | n/a |
| Connecticut | 0.13 | 1.00 | 0.30 | 1.50 |
| Delaware | n/a | n/a | 0.25 | 2.00 |
| Florida | 0.00 | 0.32 | 0.20 | 0.55 |
| Georgia | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Hawaii | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.50 | 2.50 |
| Idaho | 0.10 | 0.90 | n/a | n/a |
| Illinois | 0.09 | 0.89 | 0.30 | 2.25 |
| Indiana | 0.12 | 0.25 | n/a | n/a |
| Iowa | 0.27 | 0.68 | 0.58 | 0.87 |
| Kansas | 0.09 | 0.16 | 0.25 | 3.00 |
| Kentucky | 0.13 | 0.33 | n/a | n/a |
| Louisiana | 0.04 | 1.00 | n/a | 0.40 |
| Maine | n/a | n/a | 0.58 | 3.50 |
| Maryland | 0.15 | 0.46 | 0.20 | 0.82 |
| Massachusetts | 0.14 | 1.00 | n/a | n/a |
| Michigan | 0.14 | 0.56 | n/a | n/a |
| Minnesota | 0.25 | 2.00 | 0.50 | 2.00 |
| Mississippi | 0.00 | n/a | 0.20 | 1.30 |
| Missouri | 0.05 | n/a | 0.30 | 1.25 |
| Montana | 0.16 | 1.25 | n/a | n/a |
| Nebraska | 0.16 | 1.08 | 0.38 | 1.08 |
| Nevada | n/a | n/a | 0.25 | 5.15 |
| New Hampshire | 0.25 | 1.50 | 0.50 | 1.50 |
| New Jersey | 0.26 | 2.00 | 0.38 | 2.00 |
| New Mexico | 0.10 | 1.00 | 0.30 | 1.10 |
| New York | 0.10 | 0.33 | Average
0.62 |
Average 0.62 |
| North Carolina | 0.05 | 0.38 | 0.05 | 0.38 |
| North Dakota | 0.19 | 0.88 | 0.45 | 1.69 |
| Ohio | 0.10 | 0.17 | 0.21 | 1.23 |
| Oklahoma | 0.05 | 0.54 | 0.00 | 0.43 |
| Oregon | 0.05 | 0.47 | 0.05 | 0.47 |
| Pennsylvania | 0.19 | 1.00 | 0.19 | 0.42 |
| Rhode Island | 0.29 | 0.86 | n/a | n/a |
| South Carolina | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.35 | 1.80 |
| South Dakota | 0.25 | 0.38 | 0.25 | 0.25 |
| Tennessee | 0.17 | 0.75 | n/a | n/a |
| Texas | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Utah | 0.40 | n/a | 0.60 | 1.75 |
| Vermont | 0.25 | 0.40 | 0.25 | 1.25 |
| Virginia | 0.27 | 0.45 | 0.55 | 0.80 |
| Washington | n/a | 0.36 | 0.70 | 2.70 |
| West Virginia | 0.04 | 0.58 | n/a | n/a |
| Wisconsin | 0.09 | 0.42 | 0.79 | 1.41 |
| Wyoming | 0.35 | 1.00 | 0.50 | 1.20 |
| Federal Prisons | 0.12 | 0.40 | 0.23 | 1.15 |
| Average | 0.14 | 0.63 | 0.33 | 1.41 |
From the table, prisons seem to pay inmates less today than they were in 2001. The average of the minimum daily wages paid to prisoners who are working for non-industry prison jobs is now 86 cents, down from 93 cents reported in 2001.
The average daily maximum wage for the same prison job has fallen more significantly, from $4.73 in 2001 to $3.45 today. So, what changed? According to some sources, there are at least seven states that appear to have lowered their maximum wages. South Carolina no longer pays wages for most regular prison jobs, the assignments that paid up to $4.80 per day in 2001. The regular prison jobs are still unpaid in Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Texas.
Inmates assigned to work for state-owned businesses make between 33 cents and $1.41 per hour on average, approximately twice as much as people assigned to regular prison jobs. However, around 6% of inmates in state prisons make those higher wages.
The wages listed above do not include any deductions, which in reality frequently leave inmate workers with less than half of their gross pay. For example, in Massachusetts, at least half of every paycheck goes into a savings account to pay for expenses upon release. Of course, any and all funds are commonly used to pay court assessed fines, victim witness assessment, court fees, etc.
What Are the Types of Work for Prisoners?
There are some types of work that prisoners can undergo, here are they:
1) Maintenance
The majority of prisoners will be paid a wage for working in maintenance, service or custodial jobs within the prison. Those jobs include maintaining the prison grounds, cooking meals, repairing boilers, laundering inmate clothing and conducting clerical work.
Sometimes, prisoners will also be involved in labouring for public projects, for example helping local communities to repair roads, planting trees and clearing land. The knowledge and skill of an inmate will be considered when making job assignments.
2) Industrial
Prisoners conduct industrial work for prisons and private companies that involve providing services for sale to government agencies, private sector and state-owned businesses, as well as manufacturing products.
Products and services will be sold at prices that are designed to cover production costs and business or prison operations. It is often called correctional industries and some businesses coordinate with correctional agencies to operate shops where the generated revenues fund their operation. In fact, most inmates in the United States are assigned to maintenance rather than industry work.
3) External
Some prison labour programs offer opportunities for prisoners to work outside the prison facility. The jobs here include work camps, work release programs and community work centres which provide services for public and non-profit agencies.
In the United States, those programs are directed by the Department of Corrections and are commonly reserved for lower-security risk prisoners and/ or those preparing to be released. Additionally, participation in those work programs is designed to benefit the community, the inmates themselves and the Department of Corrections, on the condition that a prisoner is physically and mentally capable.
How Are Wages Paid to Incarcerated Workers?
In general, prisons incorporate a no-cash system. It means that any amount of money a prisoner earns is stored in a bank account that is managed by the correctional facility. Well, the accumulated amount of money which a prisoner earns will bring into prison and will be sent from family or friends that can be used to make purchases.
Of course, any remaining credit will be given to the prisoner upon release. The prisoners are entitled to a monthly printout of their electronic account balance during their time in prison.
The methods of wage payment will vary across prisons. Well, payments are based on an hourly rate, cover a time period or be set on piece work. Additionally, inmates probably earn extra for overtime, the longevity of their employment or receive payments through workers’ accident compensation. Reportedly, some facilities will pay inmates for their participation in educational programs or vocational training.
A bookworm and researcher especially related to law and citizenship education. I spend time every day in front of the internet and the campus library.
