Years ago, I ran a nonprofit that received volunteer services from inmates at a “federal prison.” I viewed it as a fair exchange of volunteer time in exchange for useful training and work experience. I learned much later that it was a private prison that received annual per capita payments to house the overflow of federal prisoners in another state.


If the prison could find an infraction of the rules, it could extend a prisoner’s term and receive more money from the federal prison system. They invested a lot of time toward the end of a prisoner’s term to finding infractions and they tried to make me to do the same.


To the prison, the inmates were bodies to be sold and profits to be made. I focused instead on providing decent work experience that would be useful upon their release. The men were glad for the training and the time away from their cells, but they would certainly have preferred to be with their families or earning a living for their efforts.


If we insist on quotas, then at least protect people who are illegally in the U.S. from a punishment that does not fit the crime, that breaks up hardworking families and that makes them the slaves of some opportunistic private company.