Inmates usually work for around $2 an hour

Over 42,000 people are imprisoned in Australian correction centres, and many of them work for as little as $2 an hour for some Australian companies.

The Australian minimum wage is $21.38 an hour.

A new works release program at Mannus Correctional Centre in NSW is providing inmates with employment opportunities, while filling a labour shortage at Hyne Timber Tumbarumba Sawmill. However, the prisoners are paid fairly just like other staff at the mill.

Inmates nearing the end of their sentence at the minimum-security facility are allowed to apply for the positions, which provide them with paid employment and work experience prior to their release.

But the exact number of companies that employ prison labour in Australia is unknown, as requests for the data has been repeatedly denied by government agencies.

Prisoner rights advocate and co-coordinator of Justice Action, Brett Collins, said in some circumstances inmate employment was "slave labour".

"We're really concerned about this issue, about treating prisoners as cheap, slave labour," Mr Collins said.

"Some situations are quite useful, because people are learning skills, and learning how to conduct themselves, that's entirely useful.

"What concerns us is when they use prisoner labour as a cheap way of avoiding using tradespeople outside, without giving them proper training and without ensuring the person is gaining a useful skill that is transferrable."

"Because prisoners are not regarded as normal workers, the rights for them to unionise and protect themselves are not there," he said.

Advocates believe inmates should be given the chance to do meaningful work for a fair wage.

A spokesperson for Hyne Timber said the inmate employees receive equal pay with other members of staff.

"Depending on the role they are performing, they are paid in accordance with standard terms and conditions of employment, equitably with other employees," the spokesperson said.

Participants in the Hyne Sawmill work program have the opportunity to gain qualifications like a forklift ticket through TAFE.

The lack of transparency around the awards and laws that govern prisoner labour has raised concerns around inmates working with dangerous machinery, he said.

"It's a contrived situation where the prisoner doesn't really have a choice, and they're making the best they can of the choices, walking up and down in a cage or being out in the bush and being physically engaged in something," Mr Collins said, drawing on his own ten-year experience of imprisonment.

"Many persons would say, I'll accept that, and hope that I won't be mangled in some timber mill machinery or lose a limb and then not have the workers' compensation or safety guidelines that the average worker would have."

Australia is suffering from a skilled worker shortage and prisoners have been flagged as a population group that could fill vacant roles.

"We have a large number of vacancies which we are unable to fill. We would welcome inmates to stay on as valued employees upon release," the Hyne Timber spokesperson said.

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While Hyne Timber's program promises skills attainment for inmates, many prison labour arrangements around the country involve menial, unskilled tasks, that would otherwise be outsourced to developing nations.

"We've seen a highly disciplined response by people in the community when they understand that slave labour is used in production of some garments or goods, the public refuses to buy it.

"The same things should apply to prisoner labour when it is forced and doesn't involve the chance for the prisoner to gain skills and support themselves," Mr Collins said.

A Corrective Services NSW spokesperson told ACM "prison industries provide people in custody an opportunity to gain valuable skills, qualifications, and training for a real-world work environment, to help increase their chance of employment post-release".

Corrective Services NSW has an established pay scale for inmates working in industries inside prisons that is graded based on the role undertaken.

"CSNSW's inmate wages policy and guidelines related to inmate work is publicly accessible and any suggestion there is a lack of transparency regarding this is incorrect.

"Prison industries are overseen by the Correctional Industries Consultative Council which includes representatives from Unions NSW, employer groups and the community," the spokesperson said.

NSW correctional centres, including industries across the state, are bound to comply with the requirements of the Work Health and Safety Act, the spokesperson said.

"Inmates are offered external employment opportunities after receiving appropriate training in prison, while additional training and inductions are provided in the workplace," the spokesperson said.

"Inmates who undertake paid work in the community on works release receive the legal wage for the role they're employed in.

"Participants in prison industries and works release programs are confidential," the Corrective Services NSW spokesperson said.

Despite repeated freedom of information requests from journalists and independent MPs, the Victorian Government says they cannot publicly share which companies use prison labour, because it is sensitive information.