Private Prison Operator Geo Group Must Pay Inmates Minimum Wage for Work
newsweek.com
newsweek.com
That doesn't seem to be what happened!
According to the article, the Washington state attorney general, in praising the decision, said "the people detained there are not criminals, nor part of a treatment or rehabilitation program"
They are people in "detention", who are "awaiting civil immigration proceedings".
On the one hand, that makes it seem more egregious, but on the other, it maybe doesn't change the status quo for prison labor as much as one might hope.
Society is already paying to house, feed, and monitor prisoners. We should also pay them to work? How about if instead, we keep track of how much prisoners cost society while they're in jail and they have to pay it back when they're out (or while they're in and working). Do that and I'm all for paying them for their work.
For everyone worried about people driving while high, there are way more people already driving while drunk, we have policies to deal with it (not saying they're great), and IMO, driving while on the phone is a bigger problem than drunk/high drivers. My sister likes to take informal surveys from her front porch and says more than half the people driving past her house (she lives on a pretty busy street) are on their phone.