High-grade people selected for work

But with no money for wages

This is number 22 of fifty pieces of poetry and prose written by Peter Limbrick as a monument to adults and children who have lived and died or are living now in inhuman situations. They are all inspired by real experience.

 

Workshop

The workshop manager is explaining to the visitor

that the idea of this new unit is to give inmates a feel

for having a job, being at work, coming in five days a

week, being punctual and being paid on Fridays.

He says, when asked how people are selected,

that they are the women and men from the high-

grade wards who look as though they might be

suitable, might have the aptitude, might have the

necessary level of understanding.

He shows the visitor the inmates on the first bench

who are sorting various electrical components into

separate trays.

The visitor asks if this work comes in from local firms

and realises he has touched a nerve.

‘I wish!’ replies the manager. ‘I have tried most of the

local firms and none of them will send work to us.

Some have been to have a look and decided that we

are too slow for them. As it stands, I think they will

never use us.

‘In that case’ asks the visitor ‘How do you pay them

on Fridays?’

The manager looks downcast saying he can’t pay a

wage. The hospital budget allows only enough money

for a couple of packets of fags for each inmate.

‘And I have to fight for that’, he adds.

The visitor enquires what happens to these

components when they have been sorted into their

trays.

‘I mix them up again ready for the next morning.

What else can I do?’

 

The other 49 pieces can be seen here:

In Mind - a written monument to all people with intellectual disability. (Items 1 to 10)

In Mind - a written monument to all people with intellectual disability. (Items 11 to 20)

In Mind - a written monument to all people with intellectual disability. (Items 21 to 30)

In Mind - a written monument to all people with intellectual disability. (Items 31 to 40)

In Mind - a written monument to all people with intellectual disability. (Items 41 to 50)