Large companies should be allowed to hire prisoners for labor work.

My worthy opponent makes some valid points to which I hope to rebut. "I do not appreciate when people talk about minorities as if they are unimportant. Every life on this planet (no matter how criminal the life may be) deserves humane working conditions." Every life is indeed important. I didn't intend otherwise; however, it is important to examine this topic within its proper context. The daily life of a prisoner is not easy. Being surrounded by murders, rapists, and gang members is by anyone's definition a "hazardous environment;" being caged in a 10X10 cell is the very definition "enslavement." These are the working conditions inherent in being incarcerated. There is absolutely no legal protection for prisoners against this. And although you may like to single out corporations for similar treatment, the fact is that prisoners have MORE rights when their work is subcontracted out to a private employer. Note in the one instance you referenced about the BP oil spill, the prison labor was indeed given protection under OSHA regulations: "Workers wear protective chin-to-boot coveralls (made out of high-density polyethylene and manufactured by Dupont), taped to steel-toed boots covered in yellow plastic. They work twenty minutes on, forty minutes off, as per Occupational Safety and Health Administration safety rules." (1) Your claim that Walmart uses prison labor is a stretch. Actually Walmart simply sells damaged products to a company that uses prison labor to refurbish and resell the items: "The giant retailer sells this merchandise to liquidators, who scrub the products of any Wal-Mart serial numbers, UPC bar codes" (2). The attack on Walmart is just another example of how this prison issue is simply a means for Labor Unions to attack any form of capitalism that doesn't directly benefit themselves. You continued:" In any case, when I stated "large companies" in the prompt, that meant all companies (including those that are government run, such as UNICOR)." You can't really include government owned corporations in your argument as this would include the whole Dept. of Justice, Dept. of Defense, and every State-run Prison Facility--- all of which "profit" from prison labor. Such an argument would require a proposal that there be NO prisons. It is a fact that if we are to have prisons they must be financed by someone-- be it a government or private business. My argument would be that there are more protections for prisoners, as well as more benefits, when they are working for a private business. As nearly everyone of your links expose, if a prisoner feels that he has worked in an "unsafe" working condition, they can sue the company. (Example:3). It is easier to win a judgment from a government court against a private company, than it is for the same court to rule against another government department. As I stated in my above argument, there ARE protections for prison laborers. Under the Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program prisoners receive higher pay, better work environments, and learn skills that may help them find a job when they are released. There is even a provision that requires companies to ensure that the work doesn't take away jobs from the community: "The agency must respond to a broad statutory mandate to insure that PIECP does not impair or displace private sector workers and is not applied in skills in which there is a surplus of available gainful labor" (4) Often the products they produce compete with imports, not American products. Finally, you stated: " The companies. The companies are only getting richer and richer by paying these prisoners next to nothing when they could be providing jobs like these (with a higher pay) to people in need of them." According to UNICOR's financial statements, they LOST money: $4.2million in 2013, $28million in 2012, $1.8million in 2011, and $56million in 2010; for a total loss of over $100million in 4 years (5). The claim that corporations are making "more and more money," is more anti-capitalism hyperbole than reality. The PIE Program is a community service that pays for itself, not a profit generating enterprise. As my previous link on the study conducted by Duke University proved, the program works. Thank you 1. http://www.thenation.com... 2. http://www.huffingtonpost.com... 3. http://static.mgnetwork.com... 4. http://www.nationalcia.org... 5. http://www.unicor.gov...