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Home » Archives » Business

Ministry plans prison labor boost

But private companies exhibit little interest in hiring convicts

By Paul Voosen
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
February 14th, 2007 issue

VLADIMÍR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST
At the Pankrác press, inmates train for half a year before taking on various jobs.
The air of the printing-press building in Pankrác prison is heavy with indelible ink, the stimulant of magic marker. The press has operated since 1973, and, on a day in early February, it is on a run of glossy pamphlets for the National Theater: La Traviata, Carmen, Handel’s Samson.
The 380 inmates at this low-security prison in the geographic center of Prague, tucked discretely behind the Supreme Court, are among the most productive in the country, with some 66 percent engaged in work for the state, all at salaries well below the minimum wage.
Nationwide, only half of the country’s 19,000 prisoners work, well beneath the EU average of 60 percent. To play catch up, the Justice Ministry has plans to increase the number of working prisoners with a proposed amendment to the Criminal Code that, if passed this spring by Parliament, will extend the number of state offices that can press inmates into work.
“This is going to solve two problems at once,” said Zuzana Kuncová, spokeswoman for the Justice Ministry. “The lack of jobs for prisoners, and the lack of people willing to do certain types of jobs.”
Currently, inmates can only be forced to do paid work for their prison or at government ministries, where they mostly clean floors. Such work fits within the pale of public works and does not violate laws regarding forced labor. The Justice Ministry’s bill will allow state hospitals, town halls and schools to similarly employ inmates.
This amendment is a compromise on the ongoing dream of Prison Administration officials to ramp up the number of prisoners sent to work at private companies. They have even toyed with the idea of forcing inmates to accept private work assignments — which they can currently refuse — to increase interest from private firms.
However, since such forced labor would violate the Convention Concerning Forced or Compulsory Labor, it is a nonstarter, Kuncová said.
Salarymen
With the opportunity to earn a wage and build a small savings — it’s not unusual for inmates at Pankrác to leave prison with 100,000 Kč ($4,615) in the bank after working five or six years — most prisoners jump at the opportunity to get on salary.
“We enjoy the work we do,” said M.H., a graphic designer at the press who asked not to be identified further. “I’ve been very lucky to continue my work here.”
The prison takes pride in the quality of its work, and, though most prisoners follow previous career interests after they leave rather than pursue printing, the inmates are careful to do good work, said Vojtěch Suda, director of Pankrác’s employment program.
The press turns a profit and pays its workers an average wage of 7,000 Kč a month, compared to the prison average of 4,300 Kč. Taxes, child support and outstanding debt are subtracted from this salary, along with a cut, up to a maximum of 1,500 Kč, to support the expense of holding the prisoner — some 23,000 Kč per month.
Inmates can keep 10 percent of their salary for pocket money to buy toiletries or snacks, and the rest goes into a savings account that is held until their release.
Workers at the Pankrác press take half a year to train after being culled out of the population by a selection committee, and, because of the skills needed, are hard to find.
“We need 20 more workers,” Suda said. “We looked around at other prisons, but had no luck.”
While short-handed, the press continues to fulfill both private and public contracts. Its customers varied, from Telefónica O2 to Řeznicko-uzenářské noviny, a newspaper for butchers.
Josefína Panenková, a dramaturge at the National Theater, says that each time the theater has a print job it takes quotes from a variety of printers, but always comes back to Pankrác.
“The price is reasonable and the quality very good,” she said. “I think it’s good that the prisoners have work. I’d definitely welcome more programs like this, so that prisoners can integrate back into society when they are released.”
Private potential
Few private companies employ prisoners. They do so because they cannot find Czechs to do the menial jobs they offer and the company doesn’t want to employ foreign labor, said Suda.
But there are benefits to employing prisoners, said Kuncová.
“They don’t have holidays,” she said. “They can work beneath minimum wage, and the employer can increase and decrease the number of employees without union or state interference.”
But Suda is skeptical of any move the Prison Administration may make to bolster the private employment of prisoners.
“I don’t think forcing prisoners to work at private companies would solve a problem that actually exists,” said Suda. “Very few prisoners refuse to work for private companies. It’s the companies that don’t want inmates.”
Hela Balínová contributed to this report.

Paul Voosen can be reached at pvoosen@praguepost.com


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