Justice Secretary Ken Clarke admits plans for cheap prison work may cost
thousands of jobs.
The Justice Department has planned to double the number of prisoners
working. The Secretary of state (Ken Clark) has admitted this could mean there
is going to be less work for law abiding people. They want to create work for
20.000 prisoners. Prisoners are not paid minimum wage however the justice
department has stated this will not mean they start undercutting business
outside. The prisoners who have worked in prison will have work experience.
This can help them to get a job after they have served their sentence.
This program started two years ago. Now the POA (Prison Officer’s
Association) has suddenly raised questions. There is a code of practice and all
work is voluntary.
Reaction:
I can understand why people without a job are upset about this plan. To
them it might seem it doesn’t pay to abide the law. However I think it is
terribly important that people inside prison work. How can they ever
reintegrate in society when they haven’t learned anything. When you put people
in a cell it is not only about punishment but also about preventing crime. I
know this might look very expensive but I am sure that plans like this will pay
themselves back on the long run.
To have a job is good, but it depends on what type of work they have to do in prison. If these jobs are very monotonous, I doubt they will learn much from these jobs. In that case they are only cheap labour force.
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