LAS VEGAS (AP) — A lawsuit claims state inmates who perform manual labor outside correction facilities are paid well below Nevada's minimum wage of $8 per hour, making their work akin to slave labor.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported the lawsuit claims work by inmates cleaning state roadsides and using heavy equipment like chainsaws to clear vegetation risk injuries for a pay rate as low as $3 per day.
The attorneys argue that an inmate wage increase would not affect the state's coffers.
Instead, the money could be transferred from the state forestry division to the Nevada Department of Corrections.
