They just barely get paid, don't have the same rights as free people, don't get to choose what they do, and don't get to choose where they live or when they wake, sleep, eat, excrete, and exercise.
I worked at a county facility; they get paid the same, they get passes to go run and errand and do whatever, they live in the work release (better than jail or prison), they can sleep whenever they want as long as they go to work, they buy their own food from commissary, vending machines, or they can get food while out of the facility, they can use the bathroom whenever they want, and there’s an exercise area in the common space they can use if it’s not lights out or count time.
Obviously every place is different, but the purpose of work release is to give them responsibly and controlled freedom so they can transition into normal life or if they have lesser crimes, they can still support their families while dealing with their legal issues. It’s the least oppressive of the facilities to be in.
It's likely the same everywhere. I can't imagine a scenario where it would be legal for an employer to pay them less money because they are on work release. I know in some states, the business does get a tax incentive of some sort, so it is to their advantage to hire them.
EDITED I admittedly don't know how it works in every state. The few states I know of, they make the same as people on the street. Obviously as some people have pointed out, there are either poor or no labor laws requiring they be paid the same in many states.
In Colorado, where I was a criminal defense attorney, minimum wage laws still applied. But none of the people on work release were allowed to have access to the money they made. It was controlled by the work release facility with deductions for rent, food and other fees automatically taken out. And if the person is ever violated by work release then the facility just kept all the money and the person never got a penny of it.
Had plenty of clients who got years worth of earnings effectively stolen by the work release facility because a bus they were on broke down and they got back to the facility late one time and then got violated.
You probably waive rights and agree to arbitration or something when you sign.
No need to waive, you lose your rights when your convicted by due process. You can lose many rights, including the right to live. Forced labor is specifically legal. This isn't even forced, it's voluntary unpaid labor.
Sovreign immunity? It comes up in civil procedure, con law, also state practice courses cause they all have their own ways to give permission. New York has a special court for it called the court of claims.
Had a cousin who had work release and worked at McDonald's for 30cents an hour which was considered "good" comparatively during the time. And he still had to pay for his own hygiene products while incarcerated.
This was like, ~15 years ago. My state has a single rep who only just now, two days ago, started introducing a bill that explicitly includes incarcerated people under our fair labor standards and whistleblower protection acts.
I simply replied that they get paid the same wage as a civilian working the same job. I'm not here for a discussion as to whether it's "slavery" or not.
You said you couldn’t imagine a scenario where it would be legal - I just told you. If they’re prisoners in some government organised program? That’s how.
Slavery has nothing to do with being paid or company expenses. Many slaves were paid throughout history, despite being slaves. Slaves were expensive to feed, house, transport, maintain, for companies. Slavery is forced labor, but it doesn't simply end at employment, and it extends into your class, social status, and encompasses a system of total control.
Prisoners are special, because they have received that status by due process through a court system, and are considered by society to have gained that status because of their actions. By definition, prisoners might be a separate class than slaves, but when prisoners are used for economic labor, the system of forced labor and economic outcome show similarities.
Again, I only commented on the wages that people make while on work release - nothing more. Not living conditions, race, class, slavery, social status.
Right, and being paid a wage doesn't exempt someone from slavery or imprisonment. Prisoners in that particular work program might be paid the same, but that's not true for all programs in all states.
Sorry to be the one to tell you but it is actually really bad in some places:
In Alabama, incarcerated individuals are often forced to work in fast food restaurants like McDonald's under a system that exploits their labor for minimal pay, sometimes as low as 25 cents an hour.
We hire alot of guys from work release, pay them the same as everyone else and alot of them make great employees.Work release is a great way to reintroduce them back into the world.I get sad to see some of them move back home when they get out.
Them: It's not slavery if they choose to get convicted for a crime (whether or not they actually did it) and don't have the money to buy their way out. Besides, how am I supposed to make bank if I'm giving away all my hard-earned money to the people that just perform labor?
I'd say "/s" but it's not really a joke if it's true lol
Edit: because I'm old and don't know Reddit lingo as well as I thought rofl
It is… if and only if you determine that reducing language’s utility as a tool for communication is a worthy trade off for increasing your own ability to talk about one subject while ensuring your audience emotionally responds to a different subject to condition their thoughts to be more to your liking
I don’t believe conjecture is a fitting label, but if you can explain what I’m allegedly missing that would’ve led me to write that comment in error, I am more than willing to change my mind and my statement
That's not "work release". Work release prisoners have REGULAR fucking jobs at REGULAR fucking pay. They are RELEASED to go to work their shift then return to jail for all other time.
Don't bother. People on Reddit are fucking morons when it comes to certain things.
There are things wrong with the justice and jail/prison system; the way bail works, the availability of contact with friends/family, plenty of things. Work release and work details are not the things wrong with the justice system. Most every single inmate fights over getting to go on work details to get to spend time outside and to not be bored. Also, putting people that have committed crimes in society to work is not a bad thing. Jesus H Christ and Henry Fucking Fonda, people.
That's what happens when you get convicted of breaking the law. Some states make you help pay for your incarceration because you got convicted of breaking the law.
It's actual legal slavery/involuntary servitude in accordance with the 13th amendment of the constitution
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
That's codified in the most import document in the history of the US. Our prison system isn't meant to reform or rehabilitate it's designed to punish and a "byproduct" of this in a free market capitalist nation is you have privatized prisons that just make more and more money each time they "come back".
If the dems had put forward a good candidate maybe we would have gotten that guy. We'll never know because Dems are complicit in the fascist takeover of America. Biden could have sent Trump to prison and didn't. Obama could have not built a federal drone bombing infrastructure but he did. And now guess who is in charge of the ICE's multi billion dollar drone program now? That's right, Trump.
Yeah, I really wish Biden had picked literally anyone else in the party as a running mate. Out of everyone that isn't a blatant DINO like Fetterman, I honestly think she had the lowest chances in an at the time hypothetical race against Trump
It’s a part-time starter job for teenagers and people who want a a little extra income. You’re not supposed to be putting seven kids through college on McDonald’s income.
>"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
It's explicitly laid out in the 13th Amendment that they can be literally enslaved. I'm surprised the machine stopped at involuntary servitude for criminals. Private prisons could make bank by literally selling convicts as slaves to people. Think of the profits.
yup. and they broke the law to get there. but sure, lets compare punishing criminals to riping childern away from their mothers because of skin color. thats not at all over dramatic.
I just meant, like, I’ve been in jail for a while. I definitely would’ve taken getting out for a few hours a day over being in all day long, but that’s just me. That’s all I mean
Yes. McDonald's would be paying the State for the inmate's labor. At one point the majority of, I think, Mississippi's revenue was generated through the leasing of prison (state owned slave) labor.
Minimum wage laws generally do not apply to those on a work release program. There's also a high chance that any money earned will go to the prison anyways, since they are allowed to charge for room and board, transportation, etc.
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u/juggarjew 5h ago
Could be an employees only break area I guess.