New Industries Building: Prisoners at Work

New Industries and Model Industries Buildings on Alcatraz Island.

Bureau of Prisons constructed the New Industries Building after multiple escape attempts were made from the Model Industries Building, which was not built for maximum security prisoners. The new building was more secure and safer for the guards. The New Industries Building went into operation just before the U.S. entered the Second World War in 1941. Federal prisoners began production of wartime supplies, such as cargo nets and uniforms, and, for the first time, they also earned wages of between five and twelve cents per hour.

Not all people who are incarcerated earn wages, and most are paid pennies per hour for work ranging from scrubbing floors to fighting wildfires.

Why pay incarcerated people?