Marks on 13 January 2013
Well it would be taxpayer money paying them the wage.
So it really makes no difference if they get free room and board...or if they pay rent but are getting minimum wage...either way the taxpayer loses.
But...at least in the second scenario, like you said they would have money for when they leave prison and maybe don't go back to a life of crime, so it would have benefits. I would support it if there was some way that the prisoners could do their work for private companies, that way the private sector is paying their wages instead of the taxpayer, and then we could still charge the prisoners a reasonable amount towards food/rent.
