During the Industrial Era prisons intended to capitalize on the labor of convicts by using them as laborers in the community. Define and describe three of the six different systems of inmate labor in use in the early twentieth century

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

In the contract system, private businesses paid to use inmate labor. They provided the raw materials and supervised the manufacturing process inside prison facilities. In the piece-price system, goods were produced for private businesses under the supervision of prison authorities. Prisons were paid according to the number and quality of the goods manufactured. In the lease system, prisoners were taken to the work site under the supervision of armed guards. Once there, they were turned over to the private contractor, who employed them and maintained discipline. The public-account systemeliminated the use of private contractors. Industries were entirely prison-owned, and prison authorities managed the manufacturing process from beginning to end. Goods were sold on the free market. In the state-use system, prisoners manufactured only goods that could be sold by or to other state offices, or they provided labor to assist other state agencies.In the public-works system prisoners maintained roads and highways, cleaned public parks and recreational facilities, and maintained and restored public buildings.