Inmate Minimum Wage Could Spike To $3-An-Hour Under Proposed Law

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — New York prisoners earning as little as a dime an hour for their labor could see a major salary bump if a new bill to raise inmate minimum wage becomes law.

Brooklyn state Senator Zellnor Myrie and Assemblyman Nick Perry proposed new legislation Wednesday to increase New York's inmates minimum from the current rate, which was set in 1993, to $3-an-hour, the pair announced.

“Incarcerated people are human beings," Myrie said at a press conference. "They deserve to be treated with dignity and to share in the fruits of their labor...Justice for incarcerated people in New York is overdue.”

The "Prison Minimum Wage Act" would raise the minimum wage, for the first time in more than a quarter century, to $3, the current salary set in Nevada, Alaska, Maine, and Kansas, officials said.

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Prisoners' labor contributes up to $50 million in revenue to the state , yet prisoners currently earn a maximum of $1.14 per hour, the elected officials said.

Inmates serve as prison maintenance workers, cleaners and manufacture textiles and furniture for the Department of Correctional Industries' state-run corporation Corcraft, the elected officials said.

Salaries often goes toward making phone calls home, buying food at the commissary, and "other necessities that are essential," said the bill's sponsors, who include state senators Alessandra Biaggi of The Bronx and Jessica Ramos of Queens.

Several bill supporters compared current New York State prisons labor practices to slavery and noted inmates cannot form unions or be eligible for workers compensation if hurt on the job.

“New York must lock up and throw away the key on the exploitive practice of condoning prison slave labor," said Perry

"The indignity, and immorality of our continuous violation of the human rights of these persons in our prisons is debasing to us as a great state and nation that respects and values humanity.”

"To reap these benefits but not pay sufficient compensation is to treat these human beings as though they were slaves or indentured servants," added City Councilman Carlos Menchaca.

"That is a punishment that fits no crime."

Photo courtesy of Brooklyn state Senator Zellnor Myrie and Assemblyman Nick Perry's offices