Wage watchers: how much does a prisoner earn?

In Belgian prisons, according to De Standaard in 2012, 3,665 of the 11,100 prisoners worked jobs. Altogether, those prisoners who worked earned about €600,000 a month, roughly €163 per prisoner.

The 2,000 prisoners who do household work such as cleaning, cooking and laundry get paid an average of €143 per month. Their exact salary depends on the prison’s administrators. Some prisons (Hoogstraten, Ruiselede, Marneffe and St-Hubert) run their own farms, where 60 detainees earn an average monthly salary of €166.

The most money for prisoners lies in working in the prison’s own workshops, for example as a printer or woodworker. The 155 prisoners who do things like sewing prison uniforms or making cell doors receive €219 a month.

The remaining 1,450 detainees work for external companies, which earns them around €188 a month.

Source: Standaard.be (2012)