ABSTRACT
Imprisonment and prison labour has only occasionally been the object of historical or sociological research in Austria. In the middle of the nineteenth century, both hard labour institutions and a large penitentiary were run by Catholic orders in the area of Austria. Towards the beginning of the 1990s the number of persons held in custody increased quite considerably and, at the same time, the Austrian economy as a whole, and the job market in particular, began to feel the competition from the eastern European countries where labour costs were much lower. Labour rights generally do not apply to prisoners, except for the restrictions on the employment of minors, for employee protection and for working hours. Prison labour in Austria can be traced back to at least two roots, one of which has since died out. One is the policy of physical punishment, the other the policy of work provision and discipline of the period of absolutism.
