The right to fair pay and two paradigms of prison work

Abstract

Is the low level of wages paid to prisoners for their work morally wrong and contrary to the human right to fair pay? This article contrasts two paradigms of prison work, one in which it is an ordinary market transaction to which normal employment rights should apply, with the rival and dominant paradigm that prisoners do not have contracts for the performance of work and sums paid to them are not pay or remuneration but rather a small incentive to perform work in a diligent way. The article also considers what would be required for prisoners’ pay to comply with the human right to fair pay, which has been viewed in three different ways – the right to be a member of a trade union for the purpose of collective bargaining, the right to a living wage that enables a life of dignity, and the right to equal pay with others who perform similar work.