In many places, it is a legal requirement that prisoners have to work. On average, however, they only receive around two euros per hour. Two prisoners complained against it – rightly so, the Federal Constitutional Court has now judged.
Two prisoners from Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia complained because they considered the wages for their work to be too low. In most states, the law requires prisoners to work. This is intended to promote social rehabilitation and is expressly permitted under the Basic Law. Only in Saxony, Brandenburg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland can the inmates decide for themselves whether they want to work.
However, the remuneration is modest: According to the court, a prisoner earned between 1.37 euros and a maximum of 2.30 euros per hour on average in 2020, depending on the activity. The Federal Constitutional Court has now decided: The current remuneration in North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria is unconstitutional.
Reasons such as appreciation or maintenance
The judges of the Second Senate say: A prisoner must have the feeling that his work is valued and recognized – especially with a view to later reintegration into society. This is not guaranteed with the current regulations in Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia due to the low wages.
The low wages are also unacceptable for another reason: “On the one hand, the prisoners should be encouraged to compensate for the damage caused by their crime. In addition, they should look after dependents and start paying off debts,” said the Vice President of the Federal Constitutional Court, Doris King.
With the current hourly wages, this is not possible, said König. “In view of the low monetary remuneration (…) it is not clear how the legally stipulated purposes are actually to be achieved by the prisoners without more wages being available to them.” That means: In Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia the regulations have to be changed and the remuneration of the prisoners improved. Since there are comparable remuneration regulations in other federal states, the judgment is of national importance.
Court gives leeway in remuneration
The Federal Constitutional Court does not specify how much the hourly wages may have to be increased. In addition to more money, the decision also makes it conceivable that prisoners receive other forms of remuneration, for example being released from prison earlier if they work regularly. According to the court, the legislature has a wide scope for designing remuneration and how it is structured. After today’s decision, however, it is difficult to imagine that the current hourly rates will remain.
Manuel Matzke from the prisoner’s union GG/BO, who campaigned for higher wages before the constitutional court, now sees the federal states as having an obligation to raise hourly rates. “We hope that the compensation rates will then really be such that honest work is worthwhile for prisoners, that they are taught that it pays off,” he says. “I hope that we can make a good leap upwards: five, six or seven euros an hour would be the sum that we imagine.”
NRW wants to “evaluate the decision carefully”
Caroline Ströttchen from the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of Justice announced that we would carefully examine the requirements of the Federal Constitutional Court: “We will carefully evaluate the decision and, within the time limit set, make a proposal to our legislator on how the regulations in the North Rhine-Westphalian Correctional Act should be based on the Federal Constitutional Court’s requirements are to be further developed.”
In its decision, the Federal Constitutional Court also complained that the effect of prison labor in Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia had not been scientifically monitored and examined. The federal states will also have to improve on this point. They have until mid-2025 to implement the new regulations.
File numbers: 2 BvR 166/186 and 2 BvR 1683/17