The Celling of America:
An Inside Look at the U.S. Prison Industry
Edited by Daniel Burton-Rose
Though many people believe otherwise, slavery has never been outlawed in the United States.
The Thirteenth Amendment included one very simple exemption: "...except as punishment for crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted," an exemption which allowed the "black codes"—laws governing the behavior of newly-freed African-Americans—to criminalize a broad spectrum of mostly harmless behaviors, thereby assuring state and private interests of a relatively uninterrupted supply of slave labor. As the editors of The Celling of America point out, this slave labor provided much of the work of "modernizing" the South after the Civil War. In 1871, the Virginia Supreme Court made matters even clearer when it remarked that prisoners were "slaves of the state." 126 years later, those same slaves have assembled a powerful, eloquent, comprehensive and ultimately damning collective indictment of how our society treats those least able to defend themselves.
Prison Legal News, from which the source material for The Celling of America was culled, is a remarkable publication. Founded in 1990 by Dan Pens and Paul Wright, PLN has given voice to hundreds of prisoners and provided, in the near-total absence of responsible and constructive coverage by the mass media, lucid accounts of individual and systematic abuse within the penal system, as well as a considerable amount of critical analysis of the prison industry as a business sector. That this is written almost entirely by prisoners who generally abstain from invective and bombast in favor of measured fact, reason, and a keen sense of history makes the weight and value of this project even greater.
"Crime as a political issue was first exploited to good effect by Richard Nixon, who used it as a 'wedge issue' in the 1968 Presidential elections... [His success] at the polls helped to propel the crime issue as a political propaganda tool in every campaign since," begins the introduction to Part One. While pointing out that the increasingly sophisticated "propaganda machine of the corporate class" has taken less than 20 years to install the hobgoblin of crime at the forefront of public concern (compared to the 50 years it took to create pervasive anti-communist hysteria), the authors give us a detailed analysis of several specious anti-crime initiatives in Washington State that served as blueprints for similar legislation that was to follow.
Initiative 590, a 1992 "Three Strikes" Initiative that failed to win passage in the legislature, was almost entirely organized and funded by the gun lobby, an organization called "Citizens for Justice (CFJ),' and individuals who later went on to careers in the state legislature where they acted as professional prison-bashers." In this $42,252 "citizens" campaign, a mere $747 came from individual citizens. The obvious lack of public support didn't deter CPJ and their backers, however. They returned in 1993 armed with more "gun lobby blood money" and an almost identical initiative, I-593, which spent $210,616 and was passed into law with 76 percent of the vote.
Later sections of the book discuss the corporate media's relationship to prisoners and the prison industry, pointing out how "if it bleeds it leads"-style journalism distorts reality and escalates public hysteria at a time when violent crime in the United States is on a steady decline. Noelle Hanrahan, director of the Prison Radio Project, recounts the censorship by NPR (which apparently stands for National Police Radio) of Mumia Abu-Jamal's commentaries in response to pressure from the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police and discusses the threat of a well-spoken, articulate and incisive voice like Abu-Jamal's to the expansion of one of the U.S's "largest growth industries: human storage and slave labor."
Reading the detailed accounts of the corporate media's overwhelming pro-prison bias, which denies coverage to prisoners and generally parrots Department of Corrections/Bureau of Prisons press releases, one might be surprised at the efforts to limit or ban media access to prisoners. The problem, it seems, is that there are journalists and writers—many of whom are themselves prisoners—who still take quaint notions like compassion, human rights and radical social change seriously. Prisoncrats can't afford to have their burgeoning slave population humanized in the public eye. It's bad for business.
Also bad for business is thorough and responsible coverage of the increasingly draconian measures or neglect prisoners are subjected to: chain gangs, "Sudden In-Custody Death Syndrome" (no joke), outrageously deficient medical care, involuntary drugging, a tacit support for prisoner rape and violence, physically abusive and sometimes murderous prison guards who go unpunished and are otherwise encouraged by lack of action to continue their abusive ways, and the steady increase in state executions.
It's revealing to examine how easy it's been, during a period when the fortunes of most Americans have grown considerably worse, to peddle the snake oil of cruelty and a "hell on earth" as deterrence in spite of overwhelming evidence that violence only breeds more violence. In Chapter Three, the authors make the somber observation that "It has reached the point where the denial of basic freedoms is no longer considered a punishment: a fair bit of unpleasantness, preferably bordering on the cruel and unusual, should be thrown in for good measure.
As long as the public's attention is focused on the conditions of prisoners, and they are made to feel that prisoners "have it too good," their own drop in living conditions can be made to seem less intolerable by comparison."
The Celling of America includes a thorough examination of prison labor, and provides a clear understanding of the history, structural realities, current and past profiteers, rebellions and possible future of chattel and wage slavery in the United States. An excellent piece on the March 4th, 1996 Oak Park Heights Prisoner Work Strike points to the power of prisoner solidarity across racial and religious lines when it's coupled with strong "outside" political cohesion that includes organized labor.
Given labor's historical role as possibly the most vocal and effective opponent of prison-labor, it is curious that, except for a brief mention of the AFL-CIO's role in the Oak Part Heights struggle and Dan Pens' report on the expanding California Correctional Peace Officer's Association (CCPOA), the book has precious little to say about the ominous implications of labor's silence. Is it possible that labor, seeing opportunities for careers, and not just jobs in the booming prison-industrial complex, has effectively abandoned its traditional role and decided to jump on the gravy train in this maximum security democracy?
Despite this relative omission, there simply isn't enough space in this review to do justice to the pieces compiled for this section. The tortured logic of those who justify prison labor as a" rehabilitation" or "vocational" program is addressed in detail, and attention is drawn to state incentives and loopholes that constitute "welfare capitalism where private business is getting a handout from the state at taxpayer expense"
What becomes apparent with each successive article is that prison industry and the commodification of prisoners has been around in a largely static form for a very, very long time. The persistence of those who profit from imprisonment cannot be attributed merely to individual greed. Today, in addition to contractors who profit directly by employing prisoners at outrageously low wages and often in hazardous conditions, those profiting from imprisonment include "the Wall Street bond houses which underwrite prison construction; multinational corporations that build prisons; phone companies that extort high rates from prisoners' families; [and] security companies that arm and equip the guards." Surveying the evidence, it becomes increasingly difficult not to see America's Gulag" as a logical extension of an economic system which, riding a strong white-supremacist undercurrent, reduces human beings to their ability to produce and consume.
Proponents of prison expansion often contend that their actions are economically benefical to the general public. As the authors make abundantly clear, this is a ridiculous argument unless you're defining "economically justifiable" as "whatever lines the pockets of prison-related private business at taxpayer expense" The case of California's economy provides a telling case history. The desiccated corpse of what was once the crown jewel of the American education system lies in sharp juxtaposition against costly prison expansion programs and "get tough laws" that one RAND Corporation study predicts will inflate the corrections budget from 9 to 18 percent of all state expenditures, requiring "total spending for higher education and other government services to fall by more than 40 percent over the next eight years."
Perhaps nowhere in The CeIling of America is the appeal to those of us on the outside more wrenching than in Chapter Seven: "Permanent Lockdown: Control Unit Proliferation and the Proliferation of the Isolation Model." Designed to contain organized dissent and resistance through "isolation, separation, controlled movement in restraints, limited communication, and the selective use of violence,)" control unit prisons cage a disproportionate number of activists, political prisoners and "prison lawyers." The merest pretense of rehabilitation as a goal of incarceration is abandoned. As a 1997 survey by the National Campaign to Stop Control Unit Prisons found, 40 states, the federal prison system and the District of Columbia have control unit prisons. Their exorbitantly high cost of operation makes them extremely attractive to the burgeoning prison-industrial complex.
Adrian Lomax's "Report From the Hole," wherein he recounts his placement in 368 days of solitary confinement for daring to publish an article about an abusive guard at a prison in Wisconsin is truly harrowing. Ray Luc Levasseur, indicted as one of the Ohio 7 and now serving a 45-year sentence in USP Marion for charges stemming from the bombing of United States military contractors, General Electric offices, and the South African consulate, writes:
Worst of the worst is when the illusion clashes with the reality The illusion—that the criminalization of poverty, and the isolation and the degradation of prisoners provides an effective humane response to social ills and The reality—that crimes begin at the top with predatory capitalists profiting grotesquely while the results of their activities mire the rest of us in economic and social rot... For years, prisoncrats raved about the deterrent effect of Marion. If it works so well why hasn't it put itself out of business? Marion/ AVX didn't deter the October '95 uprisings—the most widespread and destructive in the federal prison system's history... They didn't deter USP Atlanta from grabbing headlines with its high level of violence. They have not deterred prisoners transferred to other prisons or released to the streets from picking up new charges. Control unit prisons are not the solution. They are the problem. By any financial measure, statistic or body count, the prison system is an abysmal failure.
The collection ends with struggle. Prisoners have always rebelled, in the face of brutal retaliation, against their captors. Many of the rebellions discussed have been militant and bloody, such as Attica in 1971, the Lucasville Easter Uprising on April 11, 1993, and the numerous uprisings that followed an October 18, 1995 vote by the U.S. House of Representatives to overrule a U.S. Sentencing Commission recommendation to end the racist sentencing disparity between crack and powdered cocaine offenses. Other struggles have utilized work strikes, hunger strikes, and various forms of sabotage. Competing opinions are aired about the efficacy of violent versus non-violent resistance.
While conceding that improvements in prison conditions have occurred as a result of violent uprisings, Adrian Lomax contends that "every act of violent protest by prisoners strengthens the correctional administrators' hand, [leading to] increased funding, more oppressive security measures and the construction of maximum-security prisons." Yet Lomax acknowledges that nonviolent protests are often squelched before they happen by ruthless prison administrators who will not tolerate prisoners who organize nonviolent protests. What's worse, the prison administrators have the law on their side: "The Supreme Court has ruled that prisoners have no constitutional right to organize collective protests."
A frighteningly rapacious agglomeration of prisoncrats, capitalizing on the country's descent into an ever crueler era of social vengeance, is drooling all over itself about the fabulous re-emerging growth industry of human storage and slave labor. The writing is undoubtedly on the wall for anyone who agrees to read it. The editors and inmate commentators who contributed to The Celling of America have carved up that wall, some while locked in lightless cells the size of an average bathroom 22-24 hours a day. They have presented us here with a testimonial to the human spirit, assailing us with clear-eyed analysis and reporting, brutally honest accounts of individual and systematic abuse, and a far-reaching grasp of the reality of the society we share with them. The problems are enormous, and the solutions aren't always obvious, but surely anyone reading these words with an open mind will be moved to deep concern if not outright disgust for a nation that seems to have temporarily taken leave of its senses, not to mention its humanity.
Reviewed by Brian Brasel
06.15.98
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
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March 27, 2007
Shareowner Activism Precedes Development of SRI Slavery Screen
by Bill Baue
Most slavery exists far up the supply chain, and auditing practices do not yet exist to monitor for slavery at second- or third-tier suppliers, so it is too early to enact an enforceable slavery screen.
SocialFunds.com -- Many people file slavery in the annals of history, abolished by Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. Unfortunately, there are more people enslaved in the world right now than at any time in human history--an estimated 27 million, according to Free the Slaves (FTS), a Washington, DC-based non-profit whose mission is to end slavery worldwide. The modern global slave trade is gaining increasing attention with the recent publication of books such as Disposable People by FTS President Kevin Bales and Not for Sale by University of San Francisco Ethics Professor Dave Batstone.
Socially responsible investors (SRIs) have long addressed issues that fall under the umbrella of slavery. For example, SRI human rights and labor criteria typically screen companies for policies prohibiting forced labor, bonded labor, and child labor, according to Lauren Compere, chief administrative officer at Boston Common Asset Management. SRIs are also starting to address slavery more systematically--the Spring Symposium of the Social Investment Forum (SIF) International Working Group (IWG) at the World Bank is focusing on the modern slave trade, human trafficking, and child sex tourism.
"A wave of interest has crested recently among social investors so that we can start evaluating a set of strategic initiatives to engage investors and corporate leaders," said Prof. Batstone, a keynote speaker at the symposium. "I fully expect the SRI community to take a leadership role in addressing modern slavery and use its leverage to shape company policy so that all people can be free to work."
"The SRI community is really only starting to address human trafficking and modern slavery as a screen unto itself," Prof. Batstone told SocialFunds.com. "I imagine in the initial phase, advocacy will take the form of behind-the-scenes consultation among companies willing to address the issues, and shareholder resolutions will be filed at companies unwilling to address the issues."
Few if any global corporations directly enslave workers--supply chains are the primary locus of slavery, particularly in emerging economies and developing countries in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Slavery is pervasive in a number of different supply chains, according to Jolene Smith, executive director of Free the Slaves, who is also presenting at the IWG symposium.
"It's likely that what I'm wearing and eating today in some way contain slavery," Ms. Smith told SocialFunds.com "The amount of slavery in any given product is usually very small--we're looking at a little bit of slavery in a whole lot of products."
At the same time that slavery is practically everywhere, it is also nowhere, hiding from scrutiny far down the supply chain where raw materials originate--primarily in farm fields and mines, according to Ms. Smith.
"As SRI companies, we feel like we've had progress engaging with companies on the first tier of the supply chain--it's really getting down to the second and third tier where you find slave labor, for example in the pig iron that is being used for vehicles that Toyota is making," Ms. Compere told SocialFunds.com. "We don't have a good mechanism in place for monitoring and auditing even first or second tier suppliers, never mind reaching down to the bottom of the supply chain."
A November 2006 Bloomberg story exposed slaves in Brazil who went unpaid for months making the charcoal used to fire the pig iron that goes into cars and many other products. In December 2006, Boston Common sent Toyota a letter expressing concern over the allegations. Toyota first examined its supply chain independently, then later joined forces with the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG), a collaborative effort to address these issues.
Dan Viederman, executive director of Verité, which monitors and audits labor conditions in supplier factories around the world, explains how most social auditing is inadequate to the task of uncovering hidden issues in workplaces, such as trafficking, forced labor, and child labor.
"Without gathering information from workers themselves in a secure way that provides workers with protection from retaliation and comfort that their views are being solicited seriously and sensitively, it is extremely difficult for auditors to identify these serious risks," Mr. Viederman told SocialFunds.com. "Trafficked workers, slave laborers, and children--the most vulnerable and oppressed workers--are the least likely to share information in a standard audit."
"Very few companies--maybe a handful in total--are looking at suppliers below their first or second tiers, and fewer still in the raw material or primary material suppliers," he added. "There's no reason why good quality social compliance practices can't work at those levels, but they require companies to push 'responsibility' down several levels, and the farther it gets from the global brand, the harder it is to enforce or even to devote resources to it."
Ms. Smith of Free the Slaves points to existing models--not from labor monitoring but from environmental monitoring.
"Organic cotton is a model we're considering, because it requires certification throughout the chain of custody," Ms. Smith said.
Mr. Viederman also endorses collaborative efforts by industries or groups of brands--"but sectoral efforts need to ensure that they meet highest common denominator standards rather than lowest common denominators," he said.
January 2006 saw the launch of the Athens Ethical Principles, a set of seven commitments including zero tolerance for human trafficking. Signatories include Manpower (MAN), Procter & Gamble (PG), and Microsoft (MSFT) operations in the Czech Republic.
"The Athens Principles are a major step in the right direction, and I believe they will be even stronger when they change one of their requirements," said Ms. Smith of Free the Slaves. "Right now, the Athens Principles ask businesses to urge their contractors and suppliers to be free of slavery, but don't require it."
Ms. Smith agrees with Prof. Batstone that shareowner engagement must precede screening to first give companies "the benefit of the doubt" and the opportunity "to do research on their supply chain and to join with other businesses in their industry to root out slavery at its source."
"There will come a time in a few years when it will make sense to have an investment tool called a slavery screen that rewards companies that are actively fighting slavery and divests from companies that are actively encouraging slavery," Ms. Smith said. "We're not there yet."
Related Articles
From Competition to Cooperation: Companies Collaborate on Social and Environmental Issues
Marriott Combats Child Sexual Exploitation
Alien Tort Claims Act Lawsuit Alleges Slavery and Child Labor on Liberian Firestone Plantation
Verite Report Identifies Exploitation of Foreign Contract Laborers in Asia and the Middle East
Gap-Verite Collaboration Exemplifies Award-Winning Practice on Social Responsibility
March 27, 2007
Shareowner Activism Precedes Development of SRI Slavery Screen
by Bill Baue
Most slavery exists far up the supply chain, and auditing practices do not yet exist to monitor for slavery at second- or third-tier suppliers, so it is too early to enact an enforceable slavery screen.
SocialFunds.com -- Many people file slavery in the annals of history, abolished by Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. Unfortunately, there are more people enslaved in the world right now than at any time in human history--an estimated 27 million, according to Free the Slaves (FTS), a Washington, DC-based non-profit whose mission is to end slavery worldwide. The modern global slave trade is gaining increasing attention with the recent publication of books such as Disposable People by FTS President Kevin Bales and Not for Sale by University of San Francisco Ethics Professor Dave Batstone.
Socially responsible investors (SRIs) have long addressed issues that fall under the umbrella of slavery. For example, SRI human rights and labor criteria typically screen companies for policies prohibiting forced labor, bonded labor, and child labor, according to Lauren Compere, chief administrative officer at Boston Common Asset Management. SRIs are also starting to address slavery more systematically--the Spring Symposium of the Social Investment Forum (SIF) International Working Group (IWG) at the World Bank is focusing on the modern slave trade, human trafficking, and child sex tourism.
"A wave of interest has crested recently among social investors so that we can start evaluating a set of strategic initiatives to engage investors and corporate leaders," said Prof. Batstone, a keynote speaker at the symposium. "I fully expect the SRI community to take a leadership role in addressing modern slavery and use its leverage to shape company policy so that all people can be free to work."
"The SRI community is really only starting to address human trafficking and modern slavery as a screen unto itself," Prof. Batstone told SocialFunds.com. "I imagine in the initial phase, advocacy will take the form of behind-the-scenes consultation among companies willing to address the issues, and shareholder resolutions will be filed at companies unwilling to address the issues."
Few if any global corporations directly enslave workers--supply chains are the primary locus of slavery, particularly in emerging economies and developing countries in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Slavery is pervasive in a number of different supply chains, according to Jolene Smith, executive director of Free the Slaves, who is also presenting at the IWG symposium.
"It's likely that what I'm wearing and eating today in some way contain slavery," Ms. Smith told SocialFunds.com "The amount of slavery in any given product is usually very small--we're looking at a little bit of slavery in a whole lot of products."
At the same time that slavery is practically everywhere, it is also nowhere, hiding from scrutiny far down the supply chain where raw materials originate--primarily in farm fields and mines, according to Ms. Smith.
"As SRI companies, we feel like we've had progress engaging with companies on the first tier of the supply chain--it's really getting down to the second and third tier where you find slave labor, for example in the pig iron that is being used for vehicles that Toyota is making," Ms. Compere told SocialFunds.com. "We don't have a good mechanism in place for monitoring and auditing even first or second tier suppliers, never mind reaching down to the bottom of the supply chain."
A November 2006 Bloomberg story exposed slaves in Brazil who went unpaid for months making the charcoal used to fire the pig iron that goes into cars and many other products. In December 2006, Boston Common sent Toyota a letter expressing concern over the allegations. Toyota first examined its supply chain independently, then later joined forces with the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG), a collaborative effort to address these issues.
Dan Viederman, executive director of Verité, which monitors and audits labor conditions in supplier factories around the world, explains how most social auditing is inadequate to the task of uncovering hidden issues in workplaces, such as trafficking, forced labor, and child labor.
"Without gathering information from workers themselves in a secure way that provides workers with protection from retaliation and comfort that their views are being solicited seriously and sensitively, it is extremely difficult for auditors to identify these serious risks," Mr. Viederman told SocialFunds.com. "Trafficked workers, slave laborers, and children--the most vulnerable and oppressed workers--are the least likely to share information in a standard audit."
"Very few companies--maybe a handful in total--are looking at suppliers below their first or second tiers, and fewer still in the raw material or primary material suppliers," he added. "There's no reason why good quality social compliance practices can't work at those levels, but they require companies to push 'responsibility' down several levels, and the farther it gets from the global brand, the harder it is to enforce or even to devote resources to it."
Ms. Smith of Free the Slaves points to existing models--not from labor monitoring but from environmental monitoring.
"Organic cotton is a model we're considering, because it requires certification throughout the chain of custody," Ms. Smith said.
Mr. Viederman also endorses collaborative efforts by industries or groups of brands--"but sectoral efforts need to ensure that they meet highest common denominator standards rather than lowest common denominators," he said.
January 2006 saw the launch of the Athens Ethical Principles, a set of seven commitments including zero tolerance for human trafficking. Signatories include Manpower (MAN), Procter & Gamble (PG), and Microsoft (MSFT) operations in the Czech Republic.
"The Athens Principles are a major step in the right direction, and I believe they will be even stronger when they change one of their requirements," said Ms. Smith of Free the Slaves. "Right now, the Athens Principles ask businesses to urge their contractors and suppliers to be free of slavery, but don't require it."
Ms. Smith agrees with Prof. Batstone that shareowner engagement must precede screening to first give companies "the benefit of the doubt" and the opportunity "to do research on their supply chain and to join with other businesses in their industry to root out slavery at its source."
"There will come a time in a few years when it will make sense to have an investment tool called a slavery screen that rewards companies that are actively fighting slavery and divests from companies that are actively encouraging slavery," Ms. Smith said. "We're not there yet."
Related Articles
From Competition to Cooperation: Companies Collaborate on Social and Environmental Issues
Marriott Combats Child Sexual Exploitation
Alien Tort Claims Act Lawsuit Alleges Slavery and Child Labor on Liberian Firestone Plantation
Verite Report Identifies Exploitation of Foreign Contract Laborers in Asia and the Middle East
Gap-Verite Collaboration Exemplifies Award-Winning Practice on Social Responsibility
Prison Slavery 101.
Lee
Colorado state supports farmers with state prison slave labor — just like Russia in 1930!
Filed under:
General
— Mister Justin @ 10:43 pm
Don’t we routinely accuse the Chinese of this?
Many migrant workers in the states have filled jobs cheaply and effectively. Now, due to tough immigration laws, it seems that Colorado state is looking to the penal system help them overcome a labor shortage as migrants flee the state.
In a pilot program run by the state Corrections Department, supervised teams of low-risk inmates beginning this month will be available to harvest the swaths of sweet corn, peppers and melons that sweep the southeastern portion of the state.
Under the program, which has drawn criticism from groups concerned about immigrants’ rights and from others seeking changes in the criminal justice system, farmers will pay a fee to the state, and the inmates, who volunteer for the work, will be paid about 60 cents a day, corrections officials said.
60 cents a day is quite the wage these farmers have to pay. If the US penal system could somehow provide workers for all low-skilled jobs, you might have just found the goose that lays the golden egg AND solved your migrant problem. Unless you run out of prisoners.
16 Comments »
Unless you run out of prisoners.
With the misnamed PATRIOT ACT, that should never happen.
As JCD has stated before, with enough laws, everyone can be arrested for SOMEthing.
J/P=?
Comment by John Paradox — 3/5/2007 @ 11:50 pm
Now this is the best thing I’ve heard all day. Seriously, you will never run out of prisoners because some people are just wired that way.
It’s a win-win situation too. The prisoners are doing more than sitting in their cell , thinking about what they did — and they get some $ out of it . While the farmers will have a nice cheap labour force and not have to hire some illegals to pick the vegetables
Comment by Bryan — 3/6/2007 @ 4:24 am
I think it is sound to give a criminal something productive to do with his hands. who knows maybe it will “build character” and get them to work hard at legitimate jobs when they are released…
Comment by WokTiny — 3/6/2007 @ 5:48 am
I wonder if the only people who would ever complain about this are the civil rights wackos. (Not to be confused with legitimate civil rights proponents)
Comment by Olo Baggins of Bywater — 3/6/2007 @ 5:56 am
When you’re in jail, having a job (even one paying 60 cents a day) is considered a privilege. The downside to this is that there will be a lot of corruption involved on the institutional side. And the victims should be entitled to some of that money too.
Comment by venom monger — 3/6/2007 @ 5:57 am
1 - You got that right. And don’t forget the drug war laws - they are designed to fill the prisons with just the sort of low-risk prisoners a program like this calls for.
Comment by TJGeezer — 3/6/2007 @ 6:43 am
“And the victims should be entitled to some of that money too.”
Please. This ‘wage’ doesn’t come to fifteen dollars a month! Assuming no taxes, a victim could reap a whole $1800 in a short deaced.
Comment by Jennifer Emick — 3/6/2007 @ 7:29 am
I read a story about how they used to do something like this in Mississippi during the old south. Farmers would need extra hands during the harvests. So they’d place a call to the local sherriff. The Sherrif would then go out and arrest A few black men for things like “Loitering” or “Jay walking”, and as repayment for their crimes the men would have to help the farmers harvest the crop.
Comment by crypt — 3/6/2007 @ 8:26 am
#2 — “It’s a win-win situation too. The prisoners are doing more than sitting in their cell , thinking about what they did — and they get some $ out of it .”
60 cents a day is money? Inmates are charged $2.00/minute for phone calls, $60 for a decent pair of prison slippers, $2.00 for a bar of soap, $0.90 for a candy bar, $0.60 for a bag of Ramen noodles . . . .
Hey, what a bargain, work all day shoveling pig shit for a farmer, just so you can have a bowl of Ramen noodles before you go to bed.
Comment by Smith — 3/6/2007 @ 8:58 am
Only a liberal would argue for higher wages for criminals.
As long as the prisioners are treated humanley, then the link to the Chinese is false… and pathetic.
Comment by James Hill — 3/6/2007 @ 9:11 am
10. I have to agree. Its says Slave Labor in the Headline and goes on to state volunteers. Ahem. Even if I were paid nothing, I would volunteer to get out of a cell.
Comment by Mark — 3/6/2007 @ 9:21 am
There’ll be plenty more prisoners once they pass a ban on religious defamation.
Comment by MikeN — 3/6/2007 @ 9:51 am
YOUR KIDDING RIGHT? if your a convict, your pretty lazy as it is if you had to commit a crime to get ahead. second, its voluntary, how many low risk inmates do you know that want 12 hour work days for .60 a day when you can stay in the cell watch TV, do drugs, and someone provides food for you 3 times a day. third, the ACLU will be all over this if they force inmates to do this once the voluntary part fails. and finally, if they go thru with it, how long till you hear in the news that an inmate picking the crops in Colorado escaped, kidnapped a 10 year old blond haired blue eyed girl (other races don’t make the ratings that these types do), raped, and then killed her.
in the end, well still be back in square one.
Comment by joe — 3/6/2007 @ 10:54 am
#4, Good preemptive attack. Anyone disagreeing with you automatically becomes a wacko. I guess that is better then being compared to a slave owner. Only the US Constitution has declared that penal servitude is OK so it isn’t slavery.
#13, joe, convincing post.
Comment by Mr. Fusion — 3/6/2007 @ 1:16 pm
I used to teach in a Women’s prison, and thought I point out a few things.
1. Every prisoner is given an opportunity to do some type of work or education for money. It is considered a privilege, which means if you misbehave it is taken away from you. It is surprisingly effective.
2. Back in 1996 the prevailing wage was 50 cents a day. People could earn $13.00 a month. Top of the line pay, total that anyone could earn was generally $39.00 a month.
3. There are tiers of jobs, some pay a little more (not much), but people can get promoted. So your first job might not be fun, but if you behave, in time (and in prison you have a lot of time) you work up to a better job. You generally move from menial to semi-skilled or office to to skilled/tech oriented. Some inmates can learn trades that make them employable upon release (some do get out someday).
4. Prisoners can also take high school and college classes for credit, and get paid. Education has an even higher privilege level–you get tossed out for more minor offenses. I enjoyed teaching prisoners because they were very motivated to learn. I never feared for my life either.
5. Why pay them at all? Some prisoners (more than you realize) have no one to come for them, send them money, visit, provide stuff. It’s a larger number than you expect. Most states don’t permit the prison to buy personal items for prisoners (e.g. tampons for women), so how else to get it to them? Do you think prison is better off if inmates don;’t shampoo or wash? Thje amount is kept low to keep prisoners from having too much discretionary income (which leads to problems–when someone comes in who has money to spend, they get hustled, threatened, or they use it buy “services”.
6. The inmate may get paid 60 cents for picking vegetables in Colorado, but the farmer will pay a lot mroe than that, the difference goes to pay for the transportation, the guards, overhead, etc. Farmers will probably still want to hire non-prisoners.
7. Final thought–It’s easy to trash prisoners, but they are still human beings, and deserve some dignity. The smart guards know that, and have fewer discipline problems. I’m considered a conservative, but one thing I learned over teaching in a prison for 7 years is that most prisoners are weak, not evil. If you knew how many have untreated addictions, you realize prison isn’t cost effective. Helping them get straight give them a chance (which some take) to become productive upon release.
Comment by Rex Jannney — 3/6/2007 @ 7:04 pm
#15, Very well thought out and intelligent post. I learned a bit from it.
My understanding though is that most men’s prisons do not have the same luxury as what you allude to in your Women’s Prison. I wish it were so because I believe recidivism can be substantially reduced by giving those in prison rehabilitation instead of only punishment. That requires social workers and teachers. It requires classrooms and educational equipment.
An especially good acknowledgment for your point #7. Unfortunately it will take one occurrence, as joe pointed out in #13, to halt any rehabilitation. A 99% success rate won’t be good enough with prisoners out in society.
Comment by Mr. Fusion — 3/7/2007 @ 7:52 am
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Lee
Colorado state supports farmers with state prison slave labor — just like Russia in 1930!
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General
— Mister Justin @ 10:43 pm
Don’t we routinely accuse the Chinese of this?
Many migrant workers in the states have filled jobs cheaply and effectively. Now, due to tough immigration laws, it seems that Colorado state is looking to the penal system help them overcome a labor shortage as migrants flee the state.
In a pilot program run by the state Corrections Department, supervised teams of low-risk inmates beginning this month will be available to harvest the swaths of sweet corn, peppers and melons that sweep the southeastern portion of the state.
Under the program, which has drawn criticism from groups concerned about immigrants’ rights and from others seeking changes in the criminal justice system, farmers will pay a fee to the state, and the inmates, who volunteer for the work, will be paid about 60 cents a day, corrections officials said.
60 cents a day is quite the wage these farmers have to pay. If the US penal system could somehow provide workers for all low-skilled jobs, you might have just found the goose that lays the golden egg AND solved your migrant problem. Unless you run out of prisoners.
16 Comments »
Unless you run out of prisoners.
With the misnamed PATRIOT ACT, that should never happen.
As JCD has stated before, with enough laws, everyone can be arrested for SOMEthing.
J/P=?
Comment by John Paradox — 3/5/2007 @ 11:50 pm
Now this is the best thing I’ve heard all day. Seriously, you will never run out of prisoners because some people are just wired that way.
It’s a win-win situation too. The prisoners are doing more than sitting in their cell , thinking about what they did — and they get some $ out of it . While the farmers will have a nice cheap labour force and not have to hire some illegals to pick the vegetables
Comment by Bryan — 3/6/2007 @ 4:24 am
I think it is sound to give a criminal something productive to do with his hands. who knows maybe it will “build character” and get them to work hard at legitimate jobs when they are released…
Comment by WokTiny — 3/6/2007 @ 5:48 am
I wonder if the only people who would ever complain about this are the civil rights wackos. (Not to be confused with legitimate civil rights proponents)
Comment by Olo Baggins of Bywater — 3/6/2007 @ 5:56 am
When you’re in jail, having a job (even one paying 60 cents a day) is considered a privilege. The downside to this is that there will be a lot of corruption involved on the institutional side. And the victims should be entitled to some of that money too.
Comment by venom monger — 3/6/2007 @ 5:57 am
1 - You got that right. And don’t forget the drug war laws - they are designed to fill the prisons with just the sort of low-risk prisoners a program like this calls for.
Comment by TJGeezer — 3/6/2007 @ 6:43 am
“And the victims should be entitled to some of that money too.”
Please. This ‘wage’ doesn’t come to fifteen dollars a month! Assuming no taxes, a victim could reap a whole $1800 in a short deaced.
Comment by Jennifer Emick — 3/6/2007 @ 7:29 am
I read a story about how they used to do something like this in Mississippi during the old south. Farmers would need extra hands during the harvests. So they’d place a call to the local sherriff. The Sherrif would then go out and arrest A few black men for things like “Loitering” or “Jay walking”, and as repayment for their crimes the men would have to help the farmers harvest the crop.
Comment by crypt — 3/6/2007 @ 8:26 am
#2 — “It’s a win-win situation too. The prisoners are doing more than sitting in their cell , thinking about what they did — and they get some $ out of it .”
60 cents a day is money? Inmates are charged $2.00/minute for phone calls, $60 for a decent pair of prison slippers, $2.00 for a bar of soap, $0.90 for a candy bar, $0.60 for a bag of Ramen noodles . . . .
Hey, what a bargain, work all day shoveling pig shit for a farmer, just so you can have a bowl of Ramen noodles before you go to bed.
Comment by Smith — 3/6/2007 @ 8:58 am
Only a liberal would argue for higher wages for criminals.
As long as the prisioners are treated humanley, then the link to the Chinese is false… and pathetic.
Comment by James Hill — 3/6/2007 @ 9:11 am
10. I have to agree. Its says Slave Labor in the Headline and goes on to state volunteers. Ahem. Even if I were paid nothing, I would volunteer to get out of a cell.
Comment by Mark — 3/6/2007 @ 9:21 am
There’ll be plenty more prisoners once they pass a ban on religious defamation.
Comment by MikeN — 3/6/2007 @ 9:51 am
YOUR KIDDING RIGHT? if your a convict, your pretty lazy as it is if you had to commit a crime to get ahead. second, its voluntary, how many low risk inmates do you know that want 12 hour work days for .60 a day when you can stay in the cell watch TV, do drugs, and someone provides food for you 3 times a day. third, the ACLU will be all over this if they force inmates to do this once the voluntary part fails. and finally, if they go thru with it, how long till you hear in the news that an inmate picking the crops in Colorado escaped, kidnapped a 10 year old blond haired blue eyed girl (other races don’t make the ratings that these types do), raped, and then killed her.
in the end, well still be back in square one.
Comment by joe — 3/6/2007 @ 10:54 am
#4, Good preemptive attack. Anyone disagreeing with you automatically becomes a wacko. I guess that is better then being compared to a slave owner. Only the US Constitution has declared that penal servitude is OK so it isn’t slavery.
#13, joe, convincing post.
Comment by Mr. Fusion — 3/6/2007 @ 1:16 pm
I used to teach in a Women’s prison, and thought I point out a few things.
1. Every prisoner is given an opportunity to do some type of work or education for money. It is considered a privilege, which means if you misbehave it is taken away from you. It is surprisingly effective.
2. Back in 1996 the prevailing wage was 50 cents a day. People could earn $13.00 a month. Top of the line pay, total that anyone could earn was generally $39.00 a month.
3. There are tiers of jobs, some pay a little more (not much), but people can get promoted. So your first job might not be fun, but if you behave, in time (and in prison you have a lot of time) you work up to a better job. You generally move from menial to semi-skilled or office to to skilled/tech oriented. Some inmates can learn trades that make them employable upon release (some do get out someday).
4. Prisoners can also take high school and college classes for credit, and get paid. Education has an even higher privilege level–you get tossed out for more minor offenses. I enjoyed teaching prisoners because they were very motivated to learn. I never feared for my life either.
5. Why pay them at all? Some prisoners (more than you realize) have no one to come for them, send them money, visit, provide stuff. It’s a larger number than you expect. Most states don’t permit the prison to buy personal items for prisoners (e.g. tampons for women), so how else to get it to them? Do you think prison is better off if inmates don;’t shampoo or wash? Thje amount is kept low to keep prisoners from having too much discretionary income (which leads to problems–when someone comes in who has money to spend, they get hustled, threatened, or they use it buy “services”.
6. The inmate may get paid 60 cents for picking vegetables in Colorado, but the farmer will pay a lot mroe than that, the difference goes to pay for the transportation, the guards, overhead, etc. Farmers will probably still want to hire non-prisoners.
7. Final thought–It’s easy to trash prisoners, but they are still human beings, and deserve some dignity. The smart guards know that, and have fewer discipline problems. I’m considered a conservative, but one thing I learned over teaching in a prison for 7 years is that most prisoners are weak, not evil. If you knew how many have untreated addictions, you realize prison isn’t cost effective. Helping them get straight give them a chance (which some take) to become productive upon release.
Comment by Rex Jannney — 3/6/2007 @ 7:04 pm
#15, Very well thought out and intelligent post. I learned a bit from it.
My understanding though is that most men’s prisons do not have the same luxury as what you allude to in your Women’s Prison. I wish it were so because I believe recidivism can be substantially reduced by giving those in prison rehabilitation instead of only punishment. That requires social workers and teachers. It requires classrooms and educational equipment.
An especially good acknowledgment for your point #7. Unfortunately it will take one occurrence, as joe pointed out in #13, to halt any rehabilitation. A 99% success rate won’t be good enough with prisoners out in society.
Comment by Mr. Fusion — 3/7/2007 @ 7:52 am
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