The article I read on the internet discussed whether or not profiting from prison labour is ethical or unethical. There are several ethical issues posed by this article. We must consider that when companies hire convicts, they are paying them at a much lower wage than minimum wage. Can we say that this is a form of exploitation? Since employers know that convicts are in need of money, would this be taking advantage of the situation for profits sake?

We must also consider competing companies who choose not to employ convicts, perhaps for ethical reason. It is much harder for these companies to compete as they are at a disadvantage due to higher labour costs. In addition to these issues, convicts also occupy jobs that would otherwise be available for law-aiding citizens. However, we cannot say this is unfair because companies have a choice as to who to employ. For example, companies often take advantage of cheap labour overseas the same way they would with prisoners. I think that people find employing prisoners more unethical because they have contributed negatively to society and therefore do not deserve a job over a law-aiding citizen.