Two detainees in Germaniarespectively in Bavaria e in North Rhine Westphaliathey did not want to accept that their Work behind bars was barely paid 2 euros per hourwhile the country has a minimum wage of 12 euro. For this they have resorted to Constitutional Court and the purple robes were given to them on Tuesday reason: the wages applied in the German prisonsdepending on the qualifications, between 1.37 and 2.30 euros per hour I am unconstitutional.
The judges motivated the ruling with the principle that prison must underlie the resocialization and for this the Workas well as the consciousness that it has a value, is crucial. One negligible salary besides everything is incompatible with the load that is placed on the condemned to face i costs of justice e compensate the victims. With average wages from just 15 euros per day, is the reasoning of the cardinal robes, they just have the money to buy drinks and hygiene items. Even if work brings structure to everyday life, they can’t save and often come out of prison with a load of debtsbeing sucked into it.
In almost all Countries it is imposed the obligation to work in prison and the prisoners lend their work in workshops inside the prisons for some businesses externalor even for prison operation in the services of laundry o cleaning of the institute. Since the reform of Germany into a federal system in 2006 they have failed unitary rules for prisons and Länder each have their own regulations.
The public broadcaster Ard highlighted that the constitutional judges already in 1998 they had pointed out how the compensations to the prisoners were too bassi and therefore they were raised by increasing the basis of calculation from 5 to 9% of the average allowance of statutory pensions. From about twenty years however their amount has not been adjusted since. On the eve of the Court’s decision the prisoners’ unioni had supported the applicants’ claims. The current system is oneexploitation”, the spokesperson said Manuel Matzke at the Bavarian radio. The economic world employs prison reality as a “economic zone special”, he added, while prisoners must also participate through high taxes detention costs.
The Cut in accepting the requests of the detainees has however left open how much it actually owes raise their salary. The task falls to the legislators a Monaco e Düsseldorf that they have to reformulate the regional laws by the end of June 2025. Due to its scope, however, the decision is a previous which weighs on all the Countrieswho in default will find themselves having to face appeals.
The President of the Second Senate of Karlsruhe, Doris Kingindicated that the laws will have to fix and expressly declare what benefits the inmates will enjoy. In addition to the concrete salary, they can also be contemplated contributions of unemployment benefits or social security benefits. With this it is not yet said that the minimum hourly wage for prisoners will actually rise markedly until it reaches the legal one. However, Judge König, requiring the legislator to observe the link with i principles of human dignity he was born in welfare stateunderlined that “the perception of the salary by the prisoners themselves must not be underestimated, because considering oneself insufficiently recognized in their duties may have effects negatives to their resocialization”.