Do ICE Prison Contractors Exploit Detainees? Work for $1 a Day

Chao Chen is a Chinese citizen and lawful permanent resident living in the United States. He was locked up in a Tacoma detention center from 2014 to 2016 while he awaited removal proceedings. 

He had committed several criminal offenses, including assault, harassment and a gun violation (making him deportable); but he was pardoned by the governor. 

The Obama administration wasn’t satisfied and moved to deport him. In 2017, a judge vacated his removal order (allowing him to remain in the U.S.).

Chen, now out of detention, is suing the private prison company that held him for two years. His allegation: they underpaid him for his work. Chen participated in Geo's voluntary work program that gives detainees work assignments involving cleaning, maintenance and other tasks in exchange for a dollar a day.

He argues that he is owed the state’s minimum wage—far more than $1 dollar per day.

Chen has an uphill climb. Under federal wage and hour law, prisoners are exempt as employees, even if they work.

The situation is different where a private prison company forces inmates to work. The 10^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (Denver) last month allowed a lawsuit to go forward against the same company where mandatory work detainees allege they were forced to work. They accuse the company of violating the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

More generally, pay for prison work has been declining since 2001. As noted by Wendy Sawyer in Prison Policy Initiative, “the average of the minimum daily wages paid to incarcerated workers for non-industry prison jobs is now 86 cents, down from 93 cents reported in 2001. The average maximum daily wage for the same prison jobs has declined more significantly, from $4.73 in 2001 to $3.45 today.” For more, see https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2017/04/10/wages/.

So what, you might think.

Consider what this means, according to Ms. Sawyer:

“In Colorado, for example, it costs an incarcerated woman two weeks’ wages to buy a box of tampons; maybe more if there’s a shortage. Saving up for a $10 phone card would take almost two weeks for an incarcerated person working in a Pennsylvania prison.”