During flooding thousands of prisoners were working on water banks and helping people to repair their houses. Recently in many cities we have been able to witness detainees removing snow from our streets. Those are most noticeable examples.
Every day and every year a quarter of approximately 80 thousand of those who were put into Polish prisons works inside their walls. 4,300 works outside. Hospice, social services, public offices of different kinds or forest – there are many places where they find a job.
They work because they want to, not because they have to – underlines officials from Centralny Zarząd Służby Więziennej.
Why is it so important? Work can play a fundamental role in providing valuable skills and qualifications that help prisoners get a job once they are released. Law says that working is an important measure to achieve goals of resocialisation and preparation for a life after leaving walls of detention centers.
Availability of resources, security, control measures and type of commited crime impacts type of work in each prison. There are many types of work available e.g. in industrial workshops and/or land-based activity units.
Prisoners who work in such units can perform varied type of work which can provide skills in different areas, such as: “textiles, engineering, woodwork, printing, data entry, plastic moulding, component assembly, computer aided design, desk top publishing and employment offering practical training in rural activities, fresh produce production, protected cropping, amenity horticulture and landscaping leading to formal qualifications1”. Jeśli nie pana musi być z cudzysłowiu, adres nie wystarczyThose who can not work outside prison walls usually are employed in catering, cleaning or building maintenance.
Rates of pay vary depending on resources, the amount and type of work available at each prison, but maximal pay for a prisoner cannot be higher than half of minimal wage (it's approximately 500 zł per month) According to data from 2009 average pay for an hour of work for detainees was 4,30 zł/per hour.
In his latest sentence, Constitutional Tribunal, find that lowering wage of prisoners is illegal due to Constitution. Soon, prisoners will be able to earn normal pay for their normal work.
Such limitation has functioned from 1997, when administration recognized that, detainees have to be paid less, to limit the cost of work for companies that employ them.
Argument for that kind of restriction was also the fact that criminals don't pay for their living in jails (ex. water, food etc.).
Let's discuss!
Do you agree with Constitutional Tribunal verdict?
Should prisoners pay for their „accommodation”?
If a prisoner works in normal conditions, why should they be pay less, for the same work as „free” people? Do you agree?
Want to know more on prisoners work? Check „Więźniowie na rynku Pracy” by M. Korsak :)
http://www.bezrobocie.org.pl/files/1bezrobocie.org.pl/public/biuletyny_fise/080929_biuletyn_nr_11_wiezniowie.pdf
I think that they should work for free. It would be good for their rehabilitation. In my opinion they should also pay for condition in prison. All we know that in current time they have very good care and have everything what they need to live healthy(food, water) also some extra devices like TV, playstation, etc. It should be payable.
ReplyDeleteFor sure they should work for free. We all pay taxes, prisons are financed by our money. In my opinion they should work as hard as possible.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpWZC_4Qmm0
ReplyDeletehere you have a movie in witch some guy shows his point of view about working prisoners. Check it out.
That is some idea. They should pay for the accommodation in prison and have fair earnings, to pay for that. I don't really believe that, working in prison provide too much useful skills. Off course there maybe some exceptions, but it's minority.
ReplyDeletes5244 I barely can understand this guy :)
If it looked like that it would be more comfortable than living outside the prison (for more than "some" people) :)
ReplyDeleteIn their case work is very interesting change (they do different things and they are in different location). As for the skills I think that some of prisoners could become very good specialists - there are very few people "at large" that could devote so much time to their work.
In my opinion, prisoners should work independently of whether they want it or not. Taxpayers pay for their living in jail, therefore, some of the work that needs to be done 'outside' for all of us (eg. building roads, removing snow from the streets etc) should be done by prisoners. I think that if they want to be paid for their work, they should also pay for their living by themselves. It is the only way it can be fair. Moreover, in my opinion, criminals who commit violent crimes should work hard and for free. It is the only way in which their existence could contribute anything to the society. Otherwise they will spend quite a nice life in jail, having all facilities that most poor people 'outside' can only dream of - is it the right penalty for them? I don't think so.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion prisoners should work for free because they still consume a big part of our taxes. We should also notice that a major part of prisoners are not dangerous and therefore they shouldn't be in prison but at home arrest. It's a lot cheaper and I think it has more positive influence on their reclamation.
ReplyDelete@Artur Gwiazda. You have said: "I think that they should work for free. It would be good for their rehabilitation".
ReplyDeleteI completly disagree, because, the main goal of rehabilitation of prisoners is to socialize them to the rules, values and way that live ordinary people. It is not possible to learn anybody to appreciate work if you do not got paid for it.
I think that they should work for free but also have an opportunity to gain some skills and qualifications that may be useful when they leave prison and start looking for a normal job.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, prisoners should work socially, because it would perform essential and hardest work without more financing from the state. Citizens would gain this much. For example,remove snow from parking spaces, which is a work of endless in winter. Prisons are overcrowded so the introduction of fees that would cover the prisoners would be a good solution.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with the previous speakers. We all pay taxes and prisoners should work. why we must support them? Let them work on them maintenance. Everything has already been said so I will not repeat.
ReplyDeletePrisoners are people who did something bad or very bad and they should "pay" for it - go to prison. As we know often prisoner in jail can't or don't want change yourself. Getting out from jails and killing next people or hurting persons from his family. In this situations prison isn't solution. In my opinion bad people should go to pay less and hard work. They should have own leader who will keep an eye on them and require high quality job. Prisoners should learn respect to others and be able to change yourself to be better.
ReplyDeletePrisoner should work to pay for their accommodation. What's the punishment when you can lay whole day in front of tv? Prisons are now like free boarding schools for criminals. They get new skills, live for free, get new "friends" who can be their partners in upcoming crimes. In my opinion government should restore labor camps. There shouldn't be such thing like free prison. Why I have to pay for someone who robbed me?
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, all the prisoners should work and their work should depend on thethe offense . Prisoners who have committed small crimes be able to work outside the prison and have contact with people and get paid for it but not enough. Prisoners with serious convictions should be hard to work for free. Why pay a criminal as they keep the taxpayers?
ReplyDelete