And they can’t hire the ex-prison slaves because their conviction records make them ineligible to be hired by professional fire squads.
One of my colleagues spent part of his prison term fighting fires, and almost died because they were sent into an area where the fire was supposedly out. But no, they could not hire him when he was released on parole in 1994, even though he had the skills required.
California law finally changed in 2020. Except for those convicted of violent felonies or sexual assault, the inmate firefighters are eligible to go through additional training to join fire crews as employees. They also have their records expunged and can skip parole.
But yes, the fact that we still rely on “inmate labor” is appalling.
Prison labor is a problem we need to address soon.
Convicts in prison should have to work like the rest of us.
You mean like slavery?
No, we’re giving them 3 meals and a bed, at our expense, while they just sit around and watch TV. They should have to work!
Right. Like slavery.
It’s not like slavery!
Can they leave?
No.
Can they refuse work?
No.
So how exactly isn’t this slavery?
We DO pay them!
Do we pay in accordance with labor laws?
No. We pay them between 33 cents and $1.41/hour with a maximum daily wage below $5, then take up to half of that as room&board fees and victim compensation.
Below URL image reads “fun bonus fact: enough of our labor market currently relies on labor at these depressed rates, that it has a substantial downward pressure on both wages and job availability in low-skilled sectors. Immigrants aren’t taking your jobs. Slavery is.
End description.
I’d also like to add it’s not just private prisons. It’s also private detention centers where ICE keeps the immigrants.
-fae
The constitution even acknowledges that it’s still slavery
a hefty chunk of items with that ‘made in america’ sticker are in fact made by prison labor
at the very least anything that is a product of prison labor should be required to have a similar sticker to inform consumers they are taking part of this system, which is difficult to track because prison made manufactured goods include almost the entire uniform of a US soldier, road construction in most southern states, and agricultural goods sold in most stores
this…. looks familliar
Prison is just covert slavery and that’s why they wanna keep so many black people in there for the smallest offences.
This is insane
(Just to clarify, I’m not saying you’re wrong. I’m just giving you more information because you’re right, and I like your blog, and I want you to have sources in case you need them.)
It’s not even covert. It’s blatant and overt. It’s even called slavery in the constitution.
“Slavery is illegal except as punishment for a crime.”
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
People just don’t care because they think it’s all murderers and rapists, despite the fact that the number of violent criminals in jail is so small it might as well be negligible.
As of September 30, 2009 in federal prisons, 7.9% of sentenced prisoners were incarcerated for violent crimes,[39] while at year end 2008 of sentenced prisoners in state prisons, 52.4% had been jailed for violent crimes.[39] In 2002 (latest available data by type of offense), 21.6% of convicted inmates in jails were in prison for violent crimes. Among unconvicted inmates in jails in 2002, 34% had a violent offense as the most serious charge. 41% percent of convicted and unconvicted jail inmates in 2002 had a current or prior violent offense; 46% were nonviolent recidivists.[46]
It’s literally slavery, just dumbass racists and capitalists don’t care enough to figure out why we’re calling it that.
Prison labor is a problem we need to address soon.
Convicts in prison should have to work like the rest of us.
You mean like slavery?
No, we’re giving them 3 meals and a bed, at our expense, while they just sit around and watch TV. They should have to work!
Right. Like slavery.
It’s not like slavery!
Can they leave?
No.
Can they refuse work?
No.
So how exactly isn’t this slavery?
We DO pay them!
Do we pay in accordance with labor laws?
No. We pay them between 33 cents and $1.41/hour with a maximum daily wage below $5, then take up to half of that as room&board fees and victim compensation.
Below URL image reads “fun bonus fact: enough of our labor market currently relies on labor at these depressed rates, that it has a substantial downward pressure on both wages and job availability in low-skilled sectors. Immigrants aren’t taking your jobs. Slavery is.
End description.
I’d also like to add it’s not just private prisons. It’s also private detention centers where ICE keeps the immigrants.
-fae
The constitution even acknowledges that it’s still slavery
a hefty chunk of items with that ‘made in america’ sticker are in fact made by prison labor
at the very least anything that is a product of prison labor should be required to have a similar sticker to inform consumers they are taking part of this system, which is difficult to track because prison made manufactured goods include almost the entire uniform of a US soldier, road construction in most southern states, and agricultural goods sold in most stores
this…. looks familliar
So, far be it for me to discourage people promoting prison/carceral reform, but there’s potentially some misinformation here based on… one of the sites previously linked.
Here is an article/opinion from the same place as the prison labor statistics called “Confronting Prison Slave Labor Camps and other Myths” in which the second “myth” confronted is the idea that carceral labor is modern slavery. It’s not. OLDER carceral labor, where people were not paid at all was slavery. The 13th Amendment is now used to get around things like minimum wage laws which would otherwise apply. But even if one wants to argue that it’s like slavery, it’s definitely not slavery (even if it could be).
Furthermore, in arguing that prison labor is slavery, be sure to take into account the opinions of the prisoners themselves which are quite varied. While some prisoners hate the conditions and their pay and become disillusioned with the system, others enjoy the work and find it fulfilling. Furthermore, as that piece points out, there are other considerations than the obvious “prisoners do not need to be paid minimum wage” that factor-in to whether or not major companies want to use prison labor and are driving prison expansion as a result of said desire for prison labor.
Finally, I have my personal experiences working with people incarcerated long-term. I work with the Innocence Project. My home state does not have widespread prison labor programs. I’ve talked with many inmates–most of whom were serving at least 20 years in prison. The number one thing they are is bored and lonely. When we called, they were so happy to be able to tell their stories, their theories, their ideas and hear that someone wanted to believe them. The only other time where they got anything resembling that is when they took classes or were allowed something other than just recreation/yard time. Prison labor, for as terrible as it might sound to people not incarcerated, could very well be a haven for people who areincarcerated. Labor is more than just a way to earn money (or at the very least, it should be more than just a way to earn money). So, it might be worth keeping that perspective in mind when we’re talking about prison labor as akin to slavery.
All-in-all I’m all in favor of prison and criminal justice reform. But I don’t think that the above analogy is the way even if it’s popular. In fact, overzealous non-thoughtful action might end up hurting the very people we are ostensibly trying to help.
