Inmates in U.S. prisons typically make between a few cents and about a dollar per hour, and in several states they make nothing at all for regular work assignments. Federal institutional jobs pay 12 to 40 cents per hour, federal prison industry jobs top out at $1.15, and state wages range from zero up to roughly $2.00 per hour depending on the state and the assignment.1
How much a person actually takes home is a different question. Deductions, mandatory savings, and program eligibility rules all shrink the paycheck before commissary purchases shrink it again.
Federal Prison Pay
Federal pay comes in two tiers.
Institutional support jobs, meaning food service, janitorial work, laundry, groundskeeping, and basic facility maintenance, pay 12 to 40 cents per hour. A full eight-hour day at those rates works out to about $0.96 to $3.20.
UNICOR, formally Federal Prison Industries, is the government-owned business operation inside federal prisons that produces goods and services for federal agencies. UNICOR jobs pay 23 cents to $1.15 per hour, with pay grades tied to skill and seniority. At the top rate, a full workday earns about $9.20. A GED or high school diploma is required for anything above entry-level UNICOR pay, and only about 8% of work-eligible federal inmates hold a UNICOR assignment.
Refusing to participate in the Bureau of Prisons’ Inmate Financial Responsibility Program eliminates UNICOR eligibility entirely.
State Prison Pay
State wages vary far more than federal wages, and the low end is zero.
Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, and Texas have consistently paid nothing for most or all routine prison jobs. A handful of other states pay nothing for at least some assignments. In states that do pay, hourly rates for maintenance and support work run from a few cents up to about $2.00 per hour, with most falling well under a dollar.
State-run correctional industries pay somewhat better. Across the states that operate these programs, average wages range from roughly 33 cents to $1.41 per hour.
The Higher-Paying Exception: PIECP
The Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program is a federally certified program that lets private companies employ incarcerated workers. PIECP jobs must pay prevailing local wages, meaning the same rate a free worker would earn for the same job in that area.
That sounds like a large jump, and on paper it is. In practice, deductions take up to 80% of gross pay. Roughly 30% goes to room and board, about 11% to Social Security and Medicare taxes, and 5% to 20% to crime victim compensation funds. Court-ordered restitution and family support may come out on top of that.
PIECP also reaches very few people. Fewer than 5,000 incarcerated workers nationwide hold these jobs.
Work-release programs, available to some inmates nearing the end of a sentence, allow work in the community at regular market wages. Employment status and take-home pay depend on the specific arrangement.
What Prison Wages Actually Buy
The distance between prison pay and prison prices is wide.
A single package of ramen runs 29 cents to over a dollar depending on the facility. An 8-inch electric fan costs $29 to $40. At 25 cents an hour, that fan represents more than 100 hours of work.
Phone calls draw down wages fast. Federal rate caps set calls from large prisons at up to 11 cents per minute and calls from the smallest jails at up to 18 cents per minute. A 15-minute call at the 11-cent rate costs about $1.65, which is roughly four to fourteen hours of institutional-level work.
Medical co-pays for sick-call visits apply in many facilities. Even a few dollars is a significant share of monthly income at these wage levels. Reading glasses, denture adhesive, and hearing aid batteries can cost $12 to $15 or more through commissary.
Where the Money Goes Before It Reaches the Inmate
Trust Accounts
Incarcerated people cannot hold cash. Earnings go into an inmate trust account, sometimes called a commissary account, which operates like a restricted bank account run by the facility. It’s used for commissary purchases, phone credits, and sending money to family. Any balance at release is returned.
Federal commissary spending is capped at $360 per month, and wardens can set lower local limits. The cap rises by $50 for one 30-day cycle during the November–December holiday period. Stamps and phone credits don’t count against the cap.
Mandatory Deductions
Before commissary spending begins, deductions come out. Typical categories include court-ordered restitution, child support, and in many facilities a room-and-board charge. Some states impose mandatory savings, holding back a percentage that the inmate receives only at release.
Federal inmates who refuse the Inmate Financial Responsibility Program face additional restrictions: commissary spending is capped at $25 per month, performance pay is limited to the minimum maintenance level, and bonus and vacation pay are unavailable.
Why Prison Wages Are So Low
The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude with one carveout: “except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.” That clause gives correctional systems the constitutional authority to compel labor and to set wages below any free-market floor.
Federal minimum wage law doesn’t reach into prisons either. The Fair Labor Standards Act does not explicitly exclude incarcerated workers, but courts have consistently interpreted it as not covering them, generally reasoning that Congress did not have incarcerated workers in mind when it wrote the statute. The result is that there is no legal minimum for prison wages and no statutory obligation to pay anything.
About 70% of incarcerated workers are required to work. Wages have remained essentially flat for decades.
Recent Changes Worth Knowing
Several states have removed the slavery-and-involuntary-servitude exception from their own constitutions. Colorado did so in 2018, Nebraska in 2020, and Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont in 2022. These amendments don’t directly raise wages, but they change the legal footing for compulsory labor at the state level.
On phone costs, the federal caps of 11 cents per minute in large facilities and 18 cents per minute in the smallest jails are a sharp reduction from historical rates that could top a dollar per minute. Colorado’s policy providing free prison phone calls is set to take full effect in 2026. Missouri capped rates at 12 cents per minute in 2025. Lower call rates don’t raise pay, but they slow how fast it disappears.