Jen Sorensen for February 07, 2024

Is that those privatised prisons making even more money off the convicted? Looks like another republican scam.

This does appear to be not just real, but really profitable for the folks buying the prisoner-handled food.

And we all know that profit is king, right?

PS: I see nothing wrong with employing prisoners which trains them in good work habits and perhaps allows them to build up a savings account or some such. But forced labor is considerably outside the pale.

Free-free, set them free (Sting)

Hmmm…should criminals help bear the costs of their incarceration, or should we have to pay in yet another way for their misdeeds? …gee, that’s a toughie.

Why do you think Republicans want to privatize prisons?

Private prisons are hellholes. Nationalizing them won’t help much, but it is better than the status quo.

Without their workforce of prison laborers, illegal aliens, and underage children, some food processing plants might have to shut down.

Not in “my” grocery store. But then I don’t live in America.

The AP article noted it happens in every state. And never once mentioned it centered around former slave plantations. So why make up a reference to slave plantations? California is known for being a huge ag producer. Yet I don’t recall any slave plantations there.

^^^For once an intelligent comment.

Can’t wait to see if Georgia will “hire out” Insurrectionist45 after he’s convicted by the state.

People are mistaken in believing the 13th Amendment banned slavery.“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.”It was common well into the 20th century especially in the South for a black man to be arrested for a minor crime such as vagrancy and when he was unable to pay the fine to be sold to a white man who paid the fine. Convicts were also often leased out to farms and mines often to break strikes.

They should pay a fair wage and inmate would not be destitute upon release. They could also learn a trade and not go back to crime.

So when some politician berates China for it’s slave labor (prisoners or detainees being forced to work), they can point to us and say, well, you do it.

Prison reform, do we have the moral fortitude to work that matter?:

Except for the disabled are the rest of us not “forced” into providing labor? And, to add insult to injury have to give kickbacks to the government by way of taxes.

This isn’t a call to boycott all prisoner-manufactured food. It’s a demand that the laws be changed to stop this indecency.

Once again, old white people talking about nothing they understand. 90% of prison jobs are desired and are for trustees, 5% are states that have “hard time” prison laws and the remaining are forced labor. Be indignant about that 10%.

And then, there’s China’s system. Who assembled your iPad?

Profit incentives makes this slavery. To call this restitution for crimes committed is pure hypocrisy.

John Oliver provides a nice overview of a few of the issues with forced labor in private prisons. Available on YouTube (search for John Oliver private prisons). It’s not just that prisoners are paid less than a dollar an hour on average, it’s also that prisons charge an exorbitant amount to inmates and/or their families for basic services such as phone or video calls or feminine hygiene products, and will also charge up to a 40% fee on money that is transferred into a prisoner’s account.

Though at least it’s now clear how, in an era in which there is a loud hue and cry to bar or oust all brown immigrants, we’ll find workers for jobs that are so unpleasant and/or dangerous that only undocumented people had been willing to undertake them – we’ll find ways to boost the incarceration rate even higher and force those folks to risk life and limb to complete the tasks.

Look up the song “Coal Creek Rebellion” on YouTube for a little history.

Hey, they’re engaged in meaningful work and getting rehabilitated. No, I was not able to type that with a straight face.

“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.”

Warden Samuel Norton approves of this message. (It is interesting to me that " The Shawshank Redemption", loved by Americans of all stripes, has messages that many conservatives loath.)

Do you trust a prisoner not to spit in your food (or worse)?

Progressive’s love affair with criminals really plays well in Peoria. I’m sure it doesn’t at all affect the make-up of the United States Senate, the United States ouse of Representatives, or the outcome of Electoral College votes.

The absolute least of our concerns should be the fate of felons.

Instead of just living on the tax payer dime.

Is there a list of foods and food brands that exploit prisoners?