GHRC Report Cited as Washington State Considers Bill to Raise Wages for Incarcerated Workers
Bill would pay WA’s incarcerated workers minimum wage
State Rep. Tarra Simmons, D-Bremerton, wants the state to pay incarcerated workers more money.
She’s sponsoring House Bill 1024, called the “Real Labor, Real Wages Act,” to raise incarcerated workers’ wages to the state minimum of $15.74. Simmons, believed to be the first formerly incarcerated person elected to the State Legislature, said when she was in prison she worked graveyard shifts for no more than 42 cents an hour, before various deductions to her paycheck.
“A lot of lawmakers aren’t prioritizing the issues of the incarcerated population because they haven’t lived that experience,” Simmons said.
Read more at The Seattle Times