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Imprisonment and Forced Labour
By Thomas Meyer-Falk
In the following, the necessity of a (inter)national campaign against
the forced labour occurring in prisons today shall be explained. The
legal background to forced labour in prisons will be presented in an
introduction (A), then, the main section (B) the necessity of a
campaign against forced labour fought within as well as outside of
prisons will be established.
A short outlook on how international co-operation in this area could be
like will be given at the end.
A) Legal Background to Forced Labour
a) Historical The Prussian Prison Handbook of around 1900 pointed out four main purposes for working prisoners: they should consider the work unpleasant; they should be bettered through the regular activity and through the order and obedience; their health should not be harmed by inactivity (in the obligatory strict solitary confinement of all prisoners at the time); and finally they should be able to gain a hold in civil society more easily after their release. Similar rules or ideas are to be found in other states as well.
b) Prison Labour and International Law b1) Supranational Law According to the ILO (International Labour Organisation) agreement of 1930, applicable in Germany and the majority of states in the world, forced labour for prisoners is not under any explicit ban. This was confirmed again with the agreement of 1957 (see also Alternative Commentary on the Imprisonment Laws, 4th ed., paragraph 37, RZ 37 and following).
b2) European Law The current European Human Rights Convention, which applies to the states in the European Council (not to be confused with the European Union) to which for example Russia and Turkey belong to as well, states in Article 4 III forced labour in prison as permissible in principle.
b3) National Law along Two Examples aa) France In France, until the 22nd June 1987, prison labour counted as part of the punishment, it was prescribed. The new Imprisonment Laws that came into force on that day disposed of the compulsion to work. At least on paper work became a right, ie it gained a humanist touch (see also 'Le monde diplomatique', German edition, June 2003 p. 21), as no one could be forced to work anymore.
bb) Germany According to Paragraph 41 of the Imprisonment Laws, prisoners and those in custody are obliged to work. Offences against this can be met with disciplinary punishment e.g. withdrawal of privileges (TV etc), and also mean that the prisoner will be charged with the costs of imprisonment (in 2003 ca 360 Euro per month). In its decision on the 1st July 1998, the highest German Court stressed that forced labour was constitutional (see also Vol. 98, p. 169 onward of the collection of decisions of the National Constitutional Court).
B) Necessity of a Campaign Against Forced Labour
The prison industrial complex is proving itself nationally and internationally now more than ever as a powerful economic player. In Spring 2003, the Minister of Justice for Baden Wuerttemberg declared that just in his province in 2001, prisoners made a profit of 1.3 million Euros (quoted in 'Le monde diplomatique'. p. 21). And an example from Great Britain: The internet company 'Summit Media' pays prisoners 'wages' of ca. 9 pounds a week, charges five digit sums to their contractual partners for the results of the prison labour (see FRF I June/July 2003, p.13, http://www.regfrfi.easynet.co.uk).
When prisoners, whose freedom has already been forcibly taken, have their last 'property' ie their labour extracted from them, it is a serious violation of human dignity. You do not need to go back to Karl Marx, who said it is the noblest duty of people to overthrow those conditions in which the human is a degraded and enslaved being, deprived of their rights. Also a few Law professors are of the opinion that forced labour violates the dignity of prisoners (see Prof. Bemmann in 'Strafverteidiger', Issue 11/1998, p. 604-605).
A) Legal Background to Forced Labour
a) Historical The Prussian Prison Handbook of around 1900 pointed out four main purposes for working prisoners: they should consider the work unpleasant; they should be bettered through the regular activity and through the order and obedience; their health should not be harmed by inactivity (in the obligatory strict solitary confinement of all prisoners at the time); and finally they should be able to gain a hold in civil society more easily after their release. Similar rules or ideas are to be found in other states as well.
b) Prison Labour and International Law b1) Supranational Law According to the ILO (International Labour Organisation) agreement of 1930, applicable in Germany and the majority of states in the world, forced labour for prisoners is not under any explicit ban. This was confirmed again with the agreement of 1957 (see also Alternative Commentary on the Imprisonment Laws, 4th ed., paragraph 37, RZ 37 and following).
b2) European Law The current European Human Rights Convention, which applies to the states in the European Council (not to be confused with the European Union) to which for example Russia and Turkey belong to as well, states in Article 4 III forced labour in prison as permissible in principle.
b3) National Law along Two Examples aa) France In France, until the 22nd June 1987, prison labour counted as part of the punishment, it was prescribed. The new Imprisonment Laws that came into force on that day disposed of the compulsion to work. At least on paper work became a right, ie it gained a humanist touch (see also 'Le monde diplomatique', German edition, June 2003 p. 21), as no one could be forced to work anymore.
bb) Germany According to Paragraph 41 of the Imprisonment Laws, prisoners and those in custody are obliged to work. Offences against this can be met with disciplinary punishment e.g. withdrawal of privileges (TV etc), and also mean that the prisoner will be charged with the costs of imprisonment (in 2003 ca 360 Euro per month). In its decision on the 1st July 1998, the highest German Court stressed that forced labour was constitutional (see also Vol. 98, p. 169 onward of the collection of decisions of the National Constitutional Court).
B) Necessity of a Campaign Against Forced Labour
The prison industrial complex is proving itself nationally and internationally now more than ever as a powerful economic player. In Spring 2003, the Minister of Justice for Baden Wuerttemberg declared that just in his province in 2001, prisoners made a profit of 1.3 million Euros (quoted in 'Le monde diplomatique'. p. 21). And an example from Great Britain: The internet company 'Summit Media' pays prisoners 'wages' of ca. 9 pounds a week, charges five digit sums to their contractual partners for the results of the prison labour (see FRF I June/July 2003, p.13, http://www.regfrfi.easynet.co.uk).
When prisoners, whose freedom has already been forcibly taken, have their last 'property' ie their labour extracted from them, it is a serious violation of human dignity. You do not need to go back to Karl Marx, who said it is the noblest duty of people to overthrow those conditions in which the human is a degraded and enslaved being, deprived of their rights. Also a few Law professors are of the opinion that forced labour violates the dignity of prisoners (see Prof. Bemmann in 'Strafverteidiger', Issue 11/1998, p. 604-605).