In this regard, the Ministry of Justice and the National Prison Administration (ANPU) have proposed to expand the categories of prisoners allowed to leave prison for work. A bill has been drafted to this end. The authors claim that the demand for such workers is high, and in some sectors there are “queues” for them.
Share of prisoners
For paid work performed on the territory of the place of detention, the convict receives a salary. Its size ranges from a minimum of 20% to a maximum of 50% of the national minimum wage. The specific level is determined depending on the professional competencies of the convicted person and the complexity of the work to which he or she is engaged.
In the case of inmates employed on the basis of a service contract between the penitentiary institution and natural or legal persons, the maximum wage may exceed the 50% limit if the parties agree on a higher wage. Today, according to the authorities, some convicts receive 16,000 lei, or even higher.
What is absent today is to take into account the convicts’ labor activity when calculating their pensions. It is planned to include the period of work in the labor record.
Responsibility of the employer
The economic entity covers the cost of wages. On top of the wages, the client is obliged to transfer another 20% to the account of the penitentiary institution. The funds will be used to improve the infrastructure in the prison. In addition, the hiring entity (it can be either a legal entity or an individual) also ensures the transfer of social insurance contributions accrued on the salaries of inmates in the amount of 24%.
The payment mechanism is not provided for by the draft, it will be regulated by a government decree. In Romania, for example, 60% of revenues from service contracts are transferred to the state budget.
“You’d better come to us”
In the Commission on Economy, Budget and Finance, the management of the National Administration of Penitentiary Institutions was asked why they were so sure that, given such a burden on the economic entity, they would “line up” to hire such staff.
One of the advantages was considered to be that they were allowed to use the space and premises within the respective institutions free of charge. But, given the regime nature, there are few people willing to set up production “right there” even for free.
Andrei Ivanov, head of the Penitentiary Industry Department of the NAPU: “We have economic entities that work on the territory of prisons. Now the state gives the opportunity to use the premises for free (comodat), but the condition of these premises leaves much to be desired, many are badly worn out. There is also a certain hesitancy of business to go inside the institutions: there is a special regime, you can’t use cell phones, access is restricted, including for transportation. Therefore, they are more willing to hire labor to work outside prisons – at their facilities.
Into agriculture tomorrow
There are economic entities in need of labor force from among persons deprived of liberty, – say the NAPU, – especially in agriculture.
“We can provide 100 people at least tomorrow. Certain types of work are very much in demand. If we had the opportunity to take out prisoners for agricultural work, we could take out at least 500 more people in the shortest possible time. And the employers are ready to pay these additional 20%, as the labor remuneration for such jobs is calculated on the basis of the current minimum wage of 6,300 lei,” Ivanov said.
Weak link
With the adoption of this law, prisoners will be considered insured during the period of work. The contract is negotiated individually with the agent. Transfer procedure: the prison administration receives a timesheet and pay level from the agent, the money is deposited into the institution’s account, and then transferred to each inmate’s personal account. Pensions, allowances or inheritances can be transferred to the same account on request.
And here the former Minister of Finance, MP Victoria Belous, as a person who knows a lot about the movement of funds, saw a weak link. She raised a question about the “common fund”: if prisoners receive their salaries on the card, it means that they can also transfer them:
“Are we not leaving room for abuse? I think the practice of collecting money from prisoners (“dijma”) is no secret to anyone. We allow transfers from the card to other people. Shouldn’t we restrict this? So that those who work are not forced to give a share to others.”
The authors of the draft recognized the risk and promised to prepare a corresponding amendment for the second reading.
This whole story is rather cute. No one has canceled the constitutional right to labor. And isn’t it labor that ennobles a person? It is only sad to see the state’s desperate attempts to fill the labor shortage with foreigners and convicts. Their own, qualified personnel have left.
