Shoutout to the person who is just downvoting our reasonable discussion without making any points of their own...

Well, just because the prisoner is only being paid cents doesn’t necessarily mean that an outside business employing them would be paying cents, I suspect the prison takes the rest, but that’s by the by.

I get the room and board thing but it just seems unfair to me if some people aren’t working and don’t have to pay? I suspect I don’t fully understand our system but I think I’m in agreement with you that if all prisoners have to do the same amount of ‘inside work’ like cooking, to keep them busy and more of a productive community, than most of that should be a board contribution. Any voluntary work over and above the requirements should be paid at the legal wage and the prisoner should be able to keep it.