Prison Jobs Questions — Ask The Inmate

In general, all inmates must have a job. There are very rare occasions where inmates get off not working. Prison is like a community. The services that make a community run have to be maintained by inmates. There is food service, landscaping maintenance, sanitation and garbage, cleaning of the living quarters, laundry, recreation, education, health and commissary are all areas where labor is needed. This is all done by the inmates and supervised by the corrections officers. After the jobs are...

All inmates have to have a job. The prisons work like a little community where the inmates work to make the operation and living conditions civilized. The prisons pay the most nominal of wages. For instance, the federal system has a pay scale commiserate with the type of work and the length of time in their job. Pay starts at $0.12/hour and tops out at $0.40/hour. They are paid monthly and it is deposited into the Inmate Trust Account for use at commissary, telephone or Corrlinks email...

A prison functions like a small self-contained city, and the jobs that keep it running are filled almost entirely by the inmates who live there. Kitchen detail is one of the most common assignments, covering everything from food preparation to serving to cleanup. It is also one of the more sought-after jobs at facilities that offer good time credit for it, since the work is consistent and the access to food has obvious appeal. Landscaping and grounds maintenance keep the facility's exterior...