So I just had to exit a “progressive” action group that I’ve been really hopefully about when I got attacked for pointing out that Rhode Island uses prison labor for state funded projects in response to something another member posted on their fb page. Some gems from the comment thread include “they were convicted so they deserve to be in prison and have their rights restricted” and “yeah but Rhode Island prisoners are paid so it’s not forced labor like slavery.” I was too angry to keep posting and had to leave the group so I’m venting here instead.
1. The 13th amendment exempts conscripted prisoners. Again, the amendment that made slavery illegal in the U.S. includes a clause that says except for people convicted of a crime
2. After slavery was “abolished” major rebuilding efforts in the south were made possible by the cheapness of convict labor (think chain gangs).
3. Unsurprisingly, the number of black men in prison has climbed steadily since the end of slavery, with a notable increase linked to the so-called war on drugs (despite the fact that white people are more likely to use drugs and be arrested for drug use), meaning that the majority of prison laborers are black.
4. Yes, some prisoners are technically paid for their labor. In some states they can make a whopping $20 a week. This is the highest number I could find. They are also not covered by labor and safety laws, cannot form unions, and have no recourse when their labor is exploited.
5. Since the Regan era we have systematically de-funded public mental health care ( not that it was great care, but there were options), resulting in increasing numbers of people suffering from mental illness ending up in prison rather than in treatment.
6. One of the biggest prison labor employers make uniform and American flags, so go ahead and question that “ made in the USA” label when see it.
7. More and more states are sentencing minors as adults. Missouri just passed a law making playground fighting a felony. So you can add increasing numbers of actual children to that growing prison population.
So yeah, I’m going to go ahead call the legal employment of a prison population with higher numbers of black and brown people and mental illness sufferers than the total population, for literally pennies a day, slavery, especially when you take into consideration the horrendous housing conditions and brutal treatment at the hands of workers in some of these facilities. And oh yeah, if we’re talking about private prisons then they are LITERALLY BEING EXPLOITED BY A FOR PROFIT INDUSTRY.
If you call yourself a progressive action organization and your agenda doesn’t include prison reform, then I’m going to consider you just so much White Liberal bullshit (I say this as a white person) and not waste my time and energy.
The article isn’t about all these things but it is a really good breakdown of contemporary prison labor conditions and why we should be paying attention.
tl;dr I’m really angry about prison labor and you should be too.
