No money for snacks, no money for medical co-pay! Blame Michigan prisoner wages!

A resident of one of Michigan’s prisons sent a lengthy letter to our staff recently, grumbling about a lot of things. After all, when one spends time behind bars, one will find a lot of things to grumble about.

Today I just want to repeat our stand on two issues. 

First, take a look at what an incarcerated person has to say about wages: 

The prices at the prison commissary are extremely high with what little we are paid. Food service workers make between $.17 -$.33 per hour. Yes, that's cents. Someone mowing grass or shoveling snow makes $.94 a day. The average job in here makes around $25.00 - $30.00 a month. Our commissary prices aren't affordable for what we get paid. Go to michiganpackages.com to see our store prices. We have no choice but to burden our friends and family to survive in here, as we get fed so poorly. Prisoners do all of the work inside and outside of these fences. Staff only watches. So why are Michigan prisoners paid so poorly? Wisconsin prisoners get paid a minimum of $2.33 per hour. Come on Michigan. Get with the program. Pay the people who actually do ALL of the day-to-day work in here. 

No one can remember when Michigan prisoners got a pay raise. It has been decades! 

Our second issue involves health-care co-pay. Michigan prisoners are charged $5 every time they go to the health center. Keep in mind the wages they receive, as outlined above. Quite often this is what happens next: The inmate doesn’t want to spend that much of his or her tiny savings on healthcare, so they delay a visit to the clinic, or choose not to go at all. 

The result is predictable! Inmates get sicker, and require even more intense treatment. AND, because they are not well and not being treated, they risk the health of others with whom they are living. More people get sick. 

How can this be so confusing to our state legislators, and to our Michigan Department of Corrections? 

I know that legislators, committees and advocacy groups are pushing for major changes: prison reform, sentence reform, parole reform. God bless their efforts! All of those reforms are needed. 

On the other hand, these are two simple fixes. Both are long overdue! 

You have a representative and a senator in the Michigan legislature. Whether or not you have given them your vote, now is the time to give them your opinion.



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