Federal Constitutional Court
Mini wages for prisoners jeopardize social rehabilitation
View of the building of the Federal Constitutional Court. photo
© Uli Deck/dpa
For 1.37 euros an hour, some people have to work behind bars. The wages are intended to help the prisoners rehabilitate themselves, and they are supposed to pay part of the money to the family or victims. The highest German court is now setting out clear conditions for payment.
Mini wages for prisoners are unconstitutional if they are not backed by an effective concept for the rehabilitation of those affected. This has been decided by the Federal Constitutional Court. Two prisoners from Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia had sued against their low pay. Prisoners must recognize the meaning and benefit of work, said the chairwoman of the second senate, Doris König, in Karlsruhe.
Work behind bars is compulsory in most federal states and is intended to promote social rehabilitation, i.e. the reintegration of people into society. The plaintiffs, for example, worked in the company’s own print shop and as a cable cutter in a company.
According to König, the hourly wage for prisoners was between 1.37 euros and 2.30 euros – depending on qualifications. Some of the money has to support family members, make amends for victims or pay off debts, among other things.
It should actually be possible to achieve the goals of social rehabilitation with the money, said König, who is also Vice President of the highest German court. “In other words, given the low wages of prison labor, achieving the goals set by law must not be unrealistic.” People should not get the feeling of being “degraded to objects of state violence,” it said. Resocialization as a goal of the penal system follows, among other things, from the protection of human dignity.
A coherent concept is required
The Federal Constitutional Court found in its judgment that there must be a coherent concept behind the wages. “The prisoners should be taught the ability and the will to take responsibility for their own lives,” said König.
The state must develop a rehabilitation plan for this and provide human and financial resources. With a new regulation, the legislature could also withhold part of the wages for specific purposes or allow prisoners to share in the costs of the prison – for example via a flat rate for electricity costs.
If work is intended as a measure for rehabilitation, appropriate recognition does not necessarily have to be in the form of money from the point of view of the court. Instead, for example, leave days are possible, which prisoners can work out.
In addition, they could be included in the protection of social security systems or receive help to pay off debts. “However, there is no constitutional obligation to include prisoners in pension insurance or other social security systems,” emphasized König.
How high should the salary be?
According to the court, the legislature was not committed to a specific regulatory concept. It is also not the task of the Federal Constitutional Court to specify a specific remuneration model. That’s why it didn’t set a minimum hourly wage that had to be paid to prisoners.
“Of course we hope that we will see a higher leap upwards in terms of remuneration in the course of the rehabilitation concepts to be created,” said the spokesman for the prisoner’s union, Manuel Matzke. He imagines about five to seven euros an hour. “Currently, we’re simply at the point where it’s conveyed that honest work doesn’t pay off. And nobody can be resocialized that way.” Basically, the prisoner union demands that prisoners receive the minimum wage.
The German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) is also in favor of wages behind bars being based on the minimum wage. “Because the prisoners often produce for the market as part of their rehabilitation,” said DGB board member Stefan Körzell. “Customers are mostly large, market-dominating companies, which, according to this ruling, are no longer able to have their high-priced products worked in prisons at dumping wages.”
Both the DGB and the prisoner’s union criticize the fact that prisoners have not yet been included in the pension insurance. The lack of social security contributions threatens them with poverty in old age.
The federal states of Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia must now improve the respective laws by the end of June 2025 at the latest. Until that happens, the previous regulations apply.
NRW Minister of Justice Benjamin Limbach (Greens) announced a new regulation of prisoner remuneration. The Bavarian Ministry of Justice called the issue “complex” and announced that it would examine the effects on the Bavarian prison system in detail. In principle, however, the requirements of the constitutional court are formulated in such general terms that other federal states are also allowed to look at their laws.