Criminal Justice (Probation & Parole) - Essay Example

Running Head: CRIMINAL JUSTICE (PROBATION & PAROLE) Criminal Justice (Probation & Parole) Lecturer: Presentation: Introduction Convict labor refers to subjection of inmates to working conditions for free, which initially started as a way of punishing them for the various crimes they had committed. However, this perception came to change during the early 20th century, when it started being used as a way of rehabilitating inmates by the way of providing them with knowledge and the skills to sustain them after completing their jail terms (Neill, 2007).

This essay is a critical evaluation of convict labor, discussing the various systematic approaches of exploiting it.Convict Labor As discussed herein, this form of labor began as a way of administrating punishment to law offenders (Neill, 2007). However, prison authorities over the years have continued to utilize this labor to their advantage by selling work force to privately owned manufacturing companies, a fact that has attracted a lot of criticism in the past. This is done through contracting and leasing.

The contract system of exploiting convict labor for example involved the entering into a deal by prison authorities, with private industries such as garment manufacturers who paid money to the state so that they can be allowed to use prisoners as their laborers (Lichtenstein, 2000). It was considered to be an unfair process especially since these prisoners were subjected to normal or even worse working conditions than workers outside prisons, but were hardly compensated for their efforts. Prison facilities were used as premises for conducting these activities meaning that contactors had to supply the prisons with necessary raw materials and equipment as well as supervisors to oversee the production processes.

The convict lease system on the other hand involved letting prisoners out of the prisons during the day to go and work for private companies, and then return them to their cells in the evening (Lichtenstein, 2000). Some of the companies that participated in this arrangement included and not limited to miners, rail and road constructors and large scale farmers among others. As with the contract system, convicts in this system worked for free leaving the state and the businesses to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

This form of arrangement came to being mainly after the liberation and banishing of slave trade, which left companies with a huge deficit in their work force. In the US for example, it is believed that this system started in Texas at around the year 1883 but after constant criticism, especially due to the inhumane treatment of convict laborers by their masters, it was abolished in the year 1910 (Lichtenstein, 2000). However, it is believed that convict leasing was a profitable state operation as it is said to have contributed more than 300% cut on the prison expenditure.

After the exit of these two systems, a more humane State-Use system was introduced whereby convict labor was and is currently used in most of the sovereign states to manufacture items mainly to be used by the state (Neill, 2007). This has solved one of the major critical issues arising from leasing and contract systems, which was that the two did not offer a platform for reforming convicts. Instead they concentrated on keeping the convicts in prisons to continue providing cheap labor at the expense of their freedom (Lichtenstein, 2000).

In the state use system, convicts are compensated for their labor such that once they complete their jail term, they are given a lump some of their earnings in addition to expertise to enable them to start a new life free of crime. This has enabled the prisons to execute their mandate of reforming criminals as well as leveling the competition for companies, which was previously unfair to some as cheap convict labor lowered the cost of production for the advantaged ones. Currently, products made in prisons are not allowed to enter into the market especially as exports although some countries such as China are allegedly exporting products manufactured in their prisons (Neill, 2007).

ReferencesLichtenstein, A. (2000) Twice the Work of Free Labor, VersoNeill, C. (2007) Convict Labor, Nabu Press