If prisoners are to help with the UK’s labour shortages, they must not be exploited | Frances Crook

Let firms set up shop inside prisons, as I have done, but inmates get the same wages and employment rights as anyone else

Food manufacturers have called on ministers to alleviate labour shortages by allowing them to employ prisoners. This comes as other firms, from hauliers to supermarkets, are also finding themselves short of workers for reasons relating to Brexit and the pandemic. Prisoners could indeed help out, if they are given the opportunity to do real work for a real wage – but a lot would need to change to make this happen, not least the prisons.

Very few prisoners have the opportunity to do real work, and many would jump at the chance to get out of their cells and do something useful and social that would give them money to support their families and buy little luxuries like soap, some extra food and even enrol in education programmes.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/38fSWcc

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