Prison Jobs Make Inmates Money, Transfers Responsibility from Taxpayer

Even though the amount of jobs will drop by the end of February, there will still be some 1,269 inmates who are part of Ohio’s prison workforce. This may only be a fraction compared with the states 51,000 prisoners, but these select inmates help generate an entire industry which renders Ohio’s entire detention establishment as totally self-sufficient. The jobs offer inmates very little wages and most still rely on money transfers from relatives, but the program has far greater things to offer than wages.
Aside from its capacity to keep all the prisons functioning by supplying them with all necessary goods such as clothes, toiletries and food, Ohio Penal Industries, as it is called, gives many inmates an opportunity to learn a trade. Statistics show the workers in the OPI have much less chance to return to crime after their release than other prisoners.
The program manages to cut the overall costs on the state’s Departments of Rehabilitation and Correction by providing all its prisoners with products made by other prisoners. From soap and jackets to milk and beef, almost everything is produced within the program.
Although Ohio has such a successful program, the majority of prisoners are not part of it and all states differ in their methods. Even for those who are part of the program, their wages are minimal, ranging somewhere between 47 cents and $1.23 an hour.
Most inmates still rely on money transfers from friends and relatives. JPay has ways to help with these transfers and other services protecting the rights of inmates in the United States.