INDENTURED SERVITUDE IN FULL SWING IN U.S. PRISONS

EZEKIEL EDWARDS, DRUM MAJOR INSTITUTE - J. Tony Serra, a well-known
California attorney, has brought a suit in federal court in San
Francisco on behalf of inmates against a federal prison camp in Santa
Barbara County challenging its prison pay system which compensates
inmates for their labor at between 5 cents and $1.65 an hour. Serra
knows what its like to labor for so little: he just spent 10 months in
the prison for tax evasion and made 19 cents an hour.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Serra described a "nationwide
network of prison camps churning out products made by low-paid inmates
for contractors and federal agencies that might ... otherwise buy the
same goods from unionized private plants.". . .

The federal government's prison industries program, also known as
UNICOR, by 2003 operated 100 factories generating over $665 million in
sales using 20,274 prisoners. The prisoners are paid far below minimum
wage and often work in unsafe environments, since FPI is not bound by
the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

In addition to taking advantage of cheap labor, both government-run and
private prisons also provide employment for thousands of people outside
the prisons, from wardens to guards to construction workers to
businessmen. Corrections Corporation of America, the world's largest
private prison corporation, operates 59 facilities in 20 states, Puerto
Rico, the United Kingdom and Australia, despite being plagued by
mismanagement and scandals, including inadequate health care and mental,
emotional, and physical abuse of inmates within its prison walls (some
of which resulted in death). . .

As Grassroots Leadership has observed, "the existence of an industry
based on incarceration for profit creates a commercial incentive in
favor of government policies that keep more people behind bars for
longer periods of time."

Any discussion about reducing our prison population, pulling out of the
war on drugs, or otherwise reforming the criminal justice system, faces
a huge obstacle: the prison industry. From politicians who rely on
prisons for their senate seats to counties that rely on federal funds
because of the inflated size of its unemployed "residents", from
correction guards and their powerful unions to entire towns employed by
prisons, from the police narcotics units to narcotics prosecutors, all
have a keen financial interest in keeping the prison industry alive and
kicking, if not constantly growing, even if at the expense of the
liberty of fellow citizens.

It seems that, after money itself, prisons have become this country's
primary domestic drug of choice, a drug which is destroying this nation
from within and a habit we need desperately to kick.
INDENTURED SERVITUDE IN FULL SWING IN U.S. PRISONS

EZEKIEL EDWARDS, DRUM MAJOR INSTITUTE - J. Tony Serra, a well-known
California attorney, has brought a suit in federal court in San
Francisco on behalf of inmates against a federal prison camp in Santa
Barbara County challenging its prison pay system which compensates
inmates for their labor at between 5 cents and $1.65 an hour. Serra
knows what its like to labor for so little: he just spent 10 months in
the prison for tax evasion and made 19 cents an hour.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Serra described a "nationwide
network of prison camps churning out products made by low-paid inmates
for contractors and federal agencies that might ... otherwise buy the
same goods from unionized private plants.". . .

The federal government's prison industries program, also known as
UNICOR, by 2003 operated 100 factories generating over $665 million in
sales using 20,274 prisoners. The prisoners are paid far below minimum
wage and often work in unsafe environments, since FPI is not bound by
the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

In addition to taking advantage of cheap labor, both government-run and
private prisons also provide employment for thousands of people outside
the prisons, from wardens to guards to construction workers to
businessmen. Corrections Corporation of America, the world's largest
private prison corporation, operates 59 facilities in 20 states, Puerto
Rico, the United Kingdom and Australia, despite being plagued by
mismanagement and scandals, including inadequate health care and mental,
emotional, and physical abuse of inmates within its prison walls (some
of which resulted in death). . .

As Grassroots Leadership has observed, "the existence of an industry
based on incarceration for profit creates a commercial incentive in
favor of government policies that keep more people behind bars for
longer periods of time."

Any discussion about reducing our prison population, pulling out of the
war on drugs, or otherwise reforming the criminal justice system, faces
a huge obstacle: the prison industry. From politicians who rely on
prisons for their senate seats to counties that rely on federal funds
because of the inflated size of its unemployed "residents", from
correction guards and their powerful unions to entire towns employed by
prisons, from the police narcotics units to narcotics prosecutors, all
have a keen financial interest in keeping the prison industry alive and
kicking, if not constantly growing, even if at the expense of the
liberty of fellow citizens.

It seems that, after money itself, prisons have become this country's
primary domestic drug of choice, a drug which is destroying this nation
from within and a habit we need desperately to kick.

http://www.dmiblog.net/archives/2007/03/ten_cent_toil_also_known_as_pr.html


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http://www.dmiblog.net/archives/2007/03/ten_cent_toil_also_known_as_pr.html


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