Group’s founders want minimum wage and pension scheme for prison’s convicts, who work regular shifts
Philip Oltermann in Berlin
A group of inmates at a prison in Berlin have set up the world’s first union for prisoners, in an attempt to campaign for the introduction of a minimum wage and a pension scheme for convicts.
Inmates at Berlin Tegel jail, where the union is based, work regular shifts in kitchens and workshops, which in the view of the union makes them „de facto employees, just like their colleagues outside the prison gates“.
„Prisoners have never had a lobby working for them. With the prisoners‘ union we’ve decided to create one ourselves,“said Oliver Rast, a spokesman for the group.