The United States has the fastest-growing population of incarcerated people in the world. Evidence shows prisons often expose the people inside to violence and harm, rather than supporting their growth. To mitigate the trend, advocates, practitioners, and research organizations like the Urban Institute have been working to make prison more rehabilitative and improve conditions for both staff and people who are incarcerated. Part of this pursuit is understanding that incarcerated people benefit from opportunities for empowering, sustainable employment.

One way to support change and make the carceral experience more rehabilitative is to create opportunities through incarcerated worker cooperatives (co-ops).

How can co-ops benefit people who are incarcerated and society at large?

Worker co-ops are values-based, employee-owned and -controlled mutual businesses that follow a democratic business management structure and profit sharing. They operate using official internationally agreed-upon principles such as open membership, democratic participation, one person one vote (rather than one share one vote), concern for community, continuous education, and cooperation among co-ops. Incarcerated worker co-ops are owned and controlled by people incarcerated in prison.

Although carceral institutions generally allow prison labor, in many countries, including the continental US, there is no representation of incarcerated worker cooperatives. Prison labor is a continually growing industry, and many people who are incarcerated want the opportunity to work.

However, current conditions are often dangerous, and hourly wages are generally low. Further, the workers have little decisionmaking ability, control of their environment, and opportunity for growth. After release, finding stable, quality employment can be difficult because of the stigma of system involvement.

Incarcerated worker co-ops help address these issues. Cooperative businesses have better longevity than noncooperative business models and allow communities to pool their resources while sharing the risks when they otherwise may not have had the capacity to start a business. Member-owners learn the economics of running a business and how to make joint decisions. Because members are also owners, they oversee members’ treatment, working conditions, benefits, and other important decisions.

Worker-owners also have more control over their labor, which improves their work experience, productivity, and human dignity. They earn annual dividends as owners in addition to a salary, helping them build assets, which allows them to support their families. And because the cooperative model emphasizes training and education, member-owners build workforce development skills and skills in leadership, teamwork, and democratic participation. 

Further, cooperatives provide benefits to the community at large: They create more long-term, stable jobs; keep resources recirculating in communities; and build the social economy. Though incarcerated worker cooperatives face policy limitations in the continental United States, other jurisdictions have found success in allowing people who are incarcerated to start their own cooperative businesses. Puerto Rico, Ethiopia, Italy,  Sweden (PDF), South Africa, and Peru have seen success from allowing people who are incarcerated to own co-op businesses.  

How viable are cooperatives in the prison environment?

The first incarcerated worker co-op in Puerto Rico was Cooperativa de Servicios ARIGOS, founded by a group of incarcerated men who had participated in an art therapy program and then decided to start an art business. Working with the Puerto Rican League of Cooperatives, the incarcerated artist cofounders of the co-op were connected to a volunteer co-op educator. The men learned they could jointly own and run their business with other artists.

They subsequently petitioned for changes in commonwealth law so they could wholly own and run their own co-op, because before that, Puerto Rican co-op law did not allow incarcerated people to be board members of a co-op. The league continued to provide support by helping market the co-op’s goods and services among Puerto Rico’s co-op ecosystem. They also worked with the corrections office to establish protocols for a continued relationship with the prison’s cooperatives.

Through Cooperativa ARIGOS, the incarcerated men earned enough revenue to increase their wages and cover the cooperative’s business costs and salaries while paying a percentage of revenues to corrections to cover overhead costs and rent. They were also able to send money home to their families.

In coauthor Gordon-Nembhard’s interviews with former co-op members, since released, many testified to the character building, attitude changing, and humanizing impacts of being a co-op member.

Though the cooperative was shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic because members were moved to different prisons, over the first 12 years, there were only two cases of recidivism (and one of them was back on parole within six months) among 50 released previous members of the co-op. The interviews also revealed that many were released early for good behavior, including the first five presidents, who were originally serving 99+ year sentences. 

How can state and local decision makers support cooperatives in the criminal legal system?

Research shows the current carceral system has not improved individual outcomes or safety. Incarcerated worker co-ops can help improve outcomes during and after incarceration.

To better support incarcerated worker cooperatives, states and localities can consider the following actions:

• Support policies or law changes for federal and state incorporation of incarcerated worker cooperatives.
• Provide resources devoted to cooperative start-ups and continuous cooperative economic education.
• Provide uniform cooperative business development training to corrections officers so they understand how co-ops work and can support their development.
• Maintain standard statewide (or federal) operations agreements for how cooperatives owned by incarcerated workers interact with corrections departments and agencies.
• Provide the use of (and consider payment for) office space, computers, telephones, electricity, financial services, and other business needs.
• Engage with credit unions and community development financial institutions to provide access to nonextractive funding to support associated costs.

Recognizing that people who are incarcerated deserve opportunities for sustainable, meaningful employment is the first step to reducing recidivism and improving rehabilitation. This year was the International Year of Cooperatives, and highlighting how incarcerated worker cooperatives are a promising path to solving many shortcomings of the carceral system is one way to show the power of co-ops. These co-ops can be empowering and teach the life skills people who are incarcerated need to reintegrate and rehabilitate. Moreover, as the men in Puerto Rico note, being a part of a co-op while incarcerated was transformative. Such outcomes ultimately benefit incarcerated people, their families, and society as a whole.