Publication

Prison labour as punishment

Kelly, Rory
Citation
Kelly, Rory. (2024). Prison labour as punishment. European Labour Law Journal, 15(3), 426-444. https://doi.org/10.1177/20319525241270252
Abstract
Mandatory prison labour is not classed as part of the offender's punishment. The sentence is the years to be served in prison and on licence in the community. I argue that there is reason for reclassifying or reforming the current regime of prison labour in England and Wales. The argument for reclassification draws analogy to the place of labour in community orders and suspended sentences. If there is reason to reclassify prison labour, consideration of proportionality would require significantly reduced time in prison. However, there are important difficulties with establishing what reduction should be offered and operationalising any such reduction in a fair way. If prison labour is instead to be reformed so as to be non-punitive, this may require an overhaul, giving the offender a choice of whether to work and wider labour protections. Prison labour is lost when classed as neither punishment nor as employment.
Funder
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Publisher DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/20319525241270252
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International