FREEING PRISONERS LABOR

Although labor was central to the internal life of the early penitenti ary, it has virtually vanished from today's prison. In this article, P rofessor Garvey proposes making labor once again a key part of the pri son regime. During the decades surrounding the turn of the century, or ganized labor and business successfully lobbied for protectionist stat e and federal legislation that prohibited private firms fi om contract ing for prison labor and selling prison-made goods on the open market. This legislation abolished the old ''contract'' system of prison labo r and replaced it with the ''state-use'' system. Under the state-use s ystem, inmates work only for the state, which also serves as the exclu sive market for prison-made goods. This system continues to structure prison labor and results in widespread inmate idleness. Professor Garv ey argues for a return to the contract system of prison labor, which w ould allow private firms to contract for inmate labor at whatever pric e the market will bear and to sell prison-made goods on the open marke t.