Pay Inmates Minimum Wage

Section two of the bill amends subdivision 3 of § 170 of the correction law to provide that any inmate who volunteers to perform work for a nonprofit organization shall be paid a minimum wage of three dollars per hour. This subdivision also authorizes the state department of corrections and community supervision to charge the nonprofit organiza- tion a reasonable hourly rate for meals and housing of prisoners if applicable.

Section three of the bill adds subdivision 3 to § 171 of the correction law to require that an inmate be paid a minimum wage of three dollars per hour for any labor performed.

Section four of the bill adds subdivision 8 to § 177 of the correction law to require that an inmate be paid a minimum wage of three dollars per hour for any labor performed.

Section five of the bill amends § 178 of the correction law to require that any inmate who is employed under a work release program or a resi- dential treatment facility program be paid a minimum wage of three dollars per hour.

Section six of the bill adds subdivision 3 to § 184 the correction law to require that an inmate be paid a minimum wage of three dollars per hour who performs work as it is related to the manufacturing and prepar- ing of any article or material at the direction of the department of corrections and community supervision.

Section seven of the bill adds subdivision 5 to § 186 of the correction law to require that an inmate be paid a minimum wage of three dollars per hour for any service performed.

Section eight of the bill adds subdivision 5 to § 187 of the correction law to require that no inmate be compensated an amount that is less than three dollars an hour for work performed or work for which a wage is paid. This subdivision also states that "work for which a wage is paid" includes any task assigned to an inmate for which a wage would have been due except for his or her status as an inmate.

Section nine of the bill provides the effective date.

Justification

A study from the Prison Policy Institute found that inmates in New York State are amongst the lowest paid incarcerated people nationwide. On average, an inmate in New York State makes approximately $0.62 an hour, with some being paid as little as $0.10 per hour or $3.00 per week. This is far behind states like Nevada, Alaska, Maine, and Kansas where inmates are afforded the opportunity to make $3.00 an hour.

Inmates are assigned an array of duties, from custodial and food services within a correctional facility to working at the Division of Correctional Industries, otherwise known as Corcraft, an entity within the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) where inmates manufacture license plates, janitorial supplies, and office furniture, amongst other things. A 2014 DOCCS report found that Corcraft employed approximately 2,100 prisoners in 14 facilities. Inmates who work at Corcraft are paid as low as $0.16 an hour and on average make $0.65 an hour. By law, Corcraft is exempt from participating in the competitive bid process and local governments are obligated to purchase commodities from Corcraft. As such, Corcraft has a monopoly over the municipal institution market. Because of the work provided by inmates, Corcraft generates approximately $50 million in sales per year, with only a fraction of that figure being provided to prisoners.

According to DOCCS, as of January 1, 2017 there were approximately 51,000 under their custody and a 2013 study by the New York City Inde- pendent Budget Office found that New York City housed over 12,000 inmates. They cannot form unions, do not have a right to workers' compensation if they are injured on the job, and are required to partic- ipate in programs as assigned which, if they refuse, could lead them to face disciplinary measures such as solitary confinement and loss of good-time credits.

The 2017 Pulitzer Prize winner in History Heather Ann Thompson described forced prison labor as an "institutional descendant of slavery" and the associate director of the Human Rights Defense Center, a prisoners' rights advocacy group, defined prison labor as prison slave labor.Forced prison labor can be traced back to Black Codes where Southern states enacted the racist convict-lease system following the Civil War which allowed former slaves to be rented back to their former masters. Even the courts endorsed the practice as in 1871 the Supreme Court of Virgi- nia referred to prisoners as "slaves of the state."

New York State must do better. Our prison system should not be one which is focused on punishment; rather, it should be dedicated to rehabili- tation. The overwhelming majority of inmates are released after they have paid their debt to society. By providing inmates a minimum wage of $3.00, it will afford them the opportunity to have earnings when they are released, allowing them the ability to better re-integrate into society, potentially reducing the recidivism rate, making New York a safer place, and demonstrating that New York State will no longer be a participant in act which attributes its origins to our greatest sin.

Legislative history

2018: A.11317 - Referred to Correction

Fiscal implications

To be determined.

Effective date

180 days; Effective immediately the addition, amendment, and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made on or before such date.