It already is for private jails.... well for the private prisons.

As I recall there was a big scandal about a judge who got a kickback for every kid he sent to a juvenile private prison.  They busted him and it turned out he sent hundreds of kids to jail that should of just gotten probation.

EDIT: http://www.forbes.com/sites/walterpavlo/2011/08/12/pennsylvania-judge-gets-life-sentence-for-prison-kickback-scheme/

Wait, i know the reference here....

Deadman Wonderland?

edit-

"CCA and GEO have both engaged in state initiatives to increase sentences for offenders and to create new crimes, including, CCA helping to finance Proposition 6 in California in 2008 and GEO lobbying for Jessica's Law[30] in Kansas in 2006. The legal system may also be manipulated more directly: in the Kids for cash scandal, Mid-Atlantic Youth Services Corp, a private prison company was found guilty of paying two judges[31] $2.6m to send 2000 children to their prisons."

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_prison

Don't worry about it.  I'll expose the private prison industry every chance I am given.

Yes privatization and especially for profit prisons is one step too far.
Treating offenders as a commodity is morally wrong and comes awfully close to the definition of slavery:

Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work

http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php?id=1302
"The legalization of interstate prisoner exchanges has only enabled this practice further. Private prisons can now cherry-pick low-cost, low-threat inmates, not just from other state-run prisons nearby, but also from across the country, to fill empty beds and maximize cell occupancy. Prisoners can be transferred to the state with the fewest regulations on prisoner treatment and facility standards."

When I read stuff like this https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/11/27-1 I can't help but laugh and think what the fuck are we doing. Drug raids in high school lock downs, and on top of that, executed with the help of for profit prison guards? WTF.
What's next, prison labor working as TSA agents?
Please tell me that's a joke article and I can wake up now.

Wow that last link was... disgusting.  I've had school lock downs and dogs brought in.  Funny thing is that I parked on the public road that ran around the school (which wasn't allowed to have a dog sniff considering it was public property).  So I had blunt roaches in my car but since I was parked on public property they couldn't run the dogs by my car.  So people that paid the school money to park in a semi closer spot also allowed themselves for searches.  I never exposed myself to such a search except my locker.

So, wait, when individuals operate prisons, it's morally wrong, and close to slavery? But when the state does it, it's A-OK?

Absolutely not. They already get recess, 3 meals, television, and some other provisions.

Prison is supposed to be a punishment, they are pampered too much as it is.

Most criminals are and always will be criminals. They may save up some money (coming from whom, exactly, the taxpayers already paying for their amenities?!) but MOST (not all) will blow it and be right back to doing what they were doing to get in prison in the first place.

Criminals do not deserve to be paid while in prison for the crimes they committed.

By paying prisoners, you are saying that it is okay to be a criminal. After all, we'll have a nice job for you when you get in here in which you can earn minimum wage (when other people are out in society trying to find jobs as it is). 

Slavery is abolished per the consitution but when you break the law you lose your rights. 

I do agree with what you said though, but not for all prisoners. Maybe only minor offenses. For example, killers/rapist..etc shouldn't get paid for anything. Those who have minor offenses should if they are willing to work.

No because when they get out with all that money they would just spend it on drugs,guns, and what not.

Privatization encourages profiteering, which encourages the use of prisoners as de facto slaves. If it was on the taxpayer dime, there'd be less incentive to exploit prisoners. It would be wrong if the state does it, and it is wrong that the state allows it to be done under their watch, but if it were wholly the realm of the state, it would be less likely to occur. Or at least if the state exploited prison labor purely for public-works purposes, then the people as a whole would benefit, rather than a few profiteers.