Bill would raise inmate ‘slave’ wages

Crime could soon pay more for New York inmates.

State lawmakers introduced a bill Wednesday that would boost the minimum hourly wage for prisoners from as little as 10 cents an hour to $3 for chores they’re required to perform.

Most inmates in the state are required to work six hours a day, five days a week. They make license plates and furniture and perform cleaning and maintenance services for an hourly wage that ranges up to $1.14.

Their earnings can be used in the commissary for snacks and other purchases. Four states have a $3-an-hour inmate wage floor,

Inmates last saw their wages hiked in 1993, said the bill’s sponsors, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie and Assemblyman Nick Perry, both Brooklyn Democrats.

“Incarcerated people are human beings . . . Justice for incarcerated people in New York is overdue,” Myrie said.

Said Perry, “New York must lock up and throw away the key on the exploitative prac- tice of condoning prison slave labor and restore the human dignity of men and women serving time in our prison system.”

But law-and-order advocates said Albany should focus its attention of helping law-abiding New Yorkers, not lawbreakers.

“We should be providing relief to taxpayers who obey the rules of society instead of giving an increase to criminals,” said state Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long.

Gov. Cuomo’ s office declined to comment.