Calling a Spade a Spade: American Prison Industry = Slavery!

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8289

The prison industry in the United States: big business or a new form of slavery?

By Vicky Pelaez

Global Research, March 10, 2008
El Diario-La Prensa, New York

Human rights organizations, as well as political and social ones, are condemning what they are calling a new form of inhumane exploitation in the United States, where they say a prison population of up to 2 million - mostly Black and Hispanic - are working for various industries for a pittance. For the tycoons who have invested in the prison industry, it has been like finding a pot of gold. They don't have to worry about strikes or paying unemployment insurance, vacations or comp time. All of their workers are full-time, and never arrive late or are absent because of family problems; moreover, if they don't like the pay of 25 cents an hour and refuse to work, they are locked up in isolation cells.

There are approximately 2 million inmates in state, federal and private prisons throughout the country. According to California Prison Focus, "no other society in human history has imprisoned so many of its own citizens." The figures show that the United States has locked up more people than any other country: a half million more than China, which has a population five times greater than the U.S. Statistics reveal that the United States holds 25% of the world's prison population, but only 5% of the world's people. From less than 300,000 inmates in 1972, the jail population grew to 2 million by the year 2000. In 1990 it was one million. Ten years ago there were only five private prisons in the country, with a population of 2,000 inmates; now, there are 100, with 62,000 inmates. It is expected that by the coming decade, the number will hit 360,000, according to reports.

What has happened over the last 10 years? Why are there so many prisoners?

"The private contracting of prisoners for work fosters incentives to lock people up. Prisons depend on this income. Corporate stockholders who make money off prisoners' work lobby for longer sentences, in order to expand their workforce. The system feeds itself," says a study by the Progressive Labor Party, which accuses the prison industry of being "an imitation of Nazi Germany with respect to forced slave labor and concentration camps."

The prison industry complex is one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States and its investors are on Wall Street. "This multimillion-dollar industry has its own trade exhibitions, conventions, websites, and mail-order/Internet catalogs. It also has direct advertising campaigns, architecture companies, construction companies, investment houses on Wall Street, plumbing supply companies, food supply companies, armed security, and padded cells in a large variety of colors."

According to the Left Business Observer, the federal prison industry produces 100% of all military helmets, ammunition belts, bullet-proof vests, ID tags, shirts, pants, tents, bags, and canteens. Along with war supplies, prison workers supply 98% of the entire market for equipment assembly services; 93% of paints and paintbrushes; 92% of stove assembly; 46% of body armor; 36% of home appliances; 30% of headphones/microphones/speakers; and 21% of office furniture. Airplane parts, medical supplies, and much more: prisoners are even raising seeing-eye dogs for blind people.

CRIME GOES DOWN, JAIL POPULATION GOES UP

According to reports by human rights organizations, these are the factors that increase the profit potential for those who invest in the prison industry complex:

. Jailing persons convicted of non-violent crimes, and long prison sentences for possession of microscopic quantities of illegal drugs. Federal law stipulates five years' imprisonment without possibility of parole for possession of 5 grams of crack or 3.5 ounces of heroin, and 10 years for possession of less than 2 ounces of rock-cocaine or crack. A sentence of 5 years for cocaine powder requires possession of 500 grams - 100 times more than the quantity of rock cocaine for the same sentence. Most of those who use cocaine powder are white, middle-class or rich people, while mostly Blacks and Latinos use rock cocaine. In Texas, a person may be sentenced for up to two years' imprisonment for possessing 4 ounces of marijuana. Here in New York, the 1973 Nelson Rockefeller anti-drug law provides for a mandatory prison sentence of 15 years to life for possession of 4 ounces of any illegal drug.

. The passage in 13 states of the "three strikes" laws (life in prison after being convicted of three felonies), made it necessary to build 20 new federal prisons. One of the most disturbing cases resulting from this measure was that of a prisoner who for stealing a car and two bicycles received three 25-year sentences.

. Longer sentences.

. The passage of laws that require minimum sentencing, without regard for circumstances.

. A large expansion of work by prisoners creating profits that motivate the incarceration of more people for longer periods of time.

. More punishment of prisoners, so as to lengthen their sentences.

HISTORY OF PRISON LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES

Prison labor has its roots in slavery. After the 1861-1865 Civil War, a system of "hiring out prisoners" was introduced in order to continue the slavery tradition. Freed slaves were charged with not carrying out their sharecropping commitments (cultivating someone else's land in exchange for part of the harvest) or petty thievery - which were almost never proven - and were then "hired out" for cotton picking, working in mines and building railroads. From 1870 until 1910 in the state of Georgia, 88% of hired-out convicts were Black. In Alabama, 93% of "hired-out" miners were Black. In Mississippi, a huge prison farm similar to the old slave plantations replaced the system of hiring out convicts. The notorious Parchman plantation existed until 1972.

During the post-Civil War period, Jim Crow racial segregation laws were imposed on every state, with legal segregation in schools, housing, marriages and many other aspects of daily life. "Today, a new set of markedly racist laws is imposing slave labor and sweatshops on the criminal justice system, now known as the prison industry complex," comments the Left Business Observer.

Who is investing? At least 37 states have legalized the contracting of prison labor by private corporations that mount their operations inside state prisons. The list of such companies contains the cream of U.S. corporate society: IBM, Boeing, Motorola, Microsoft, AT&T, Wireless, Texas Instrument, Dell, Compaq, Honeywell, Hewlett-Packard, Nortel, Lucent Technologies, 3Com, Intel, Northern Telecom, TWA, Nordstrom's, Revlon, Macy's, Pierre Cardin, Target Stores, and many more. All of these businesses are excited about the economic boom generation by prison labor. Just between 1980 and 1994, profits went up from $392 million to $1.31 billion. Inmates in state penitentiaries generally receive the minimum wage for their work, but not all; in Colorado, they get about $2 per hour, well under the minimum. And in privately-run prisons, they receive as little as 17 cents per hour for a maximum of six hours a day, the equivalent of $20 per month. The highest-paying private prison is CCA in Tennessee, where prisoners receive 50 cents per hour for what they call "highly skilled positions." At those rates, it is no surprise that inmates find the pay in federal prisons to be very generous. There, they can earn $1.25 an hour and work eight hours a day, and sometimes overtime. They can send home $200-$300 per month.

Thanks to prison labor, the United States is once again an attractive location for investment in work that was designed for Third World labor markets. A company that operated a maquiladora (assembly plant in Mexico near the border) closed down its operations there and relocated to San Quentin State Prison in California. In Texas, a factory fired its 150 workers and contracted the services of prisoner-workers from the private Lockhart Texas prison, where circuit boards are assembled for companies like IBM and Compaq.

[Former] Oregon State Representative Kevin Mannix recently urged Nike to cut its production in Indonesia and bring it to his state, telling the shoe manufacturer that "there won't be any transportation costs; we're offering you competitive prison labor (here)."

PRIVATE PRISONS

The prison privatization boom began in the 1980s, under the governments of Ronald Reagan and Bush Sr., but reached its height in 1990 under William Clinton, when Wall Street stocks were selling like hotcakes. Clinton's program for cutting the federal workforce resulted in the Justice Departments contracting of private prison corporations for the incarceration of undocumented workers and high-security inmates.

Private prisons are the biggest business in the prison industry complex. About 18 corporations guard 10,000 prisoners in 27 states. The two largest are Correctional Corporation of America (CCA) and Wackenhut, which together control 75%. Private prisons receive a guaranteed amount of money for each prisoner, independent of what it costs to maintain each one. According to Russell Boraas, a private prison administrator in Virginia, "the secret to low operating costs is having a minimal number of guards for the maximum number of prisoners." The CCA has an ultra-modern prison in Lawrenceville, Virginia, where five guards on dayshift and two at night watch over 750 prisoners. In these prisons, inmates may get their sentences reduced for "good behavior," but for any infraction, they get 30 days added - which means more profits for CCA. According to a study of New Mexico prisons, it was found that CCA inmates lost "good behavior time" at a rate eight times higher than those in state prisons.

IMPORTING AND EXPORTING INMATES

Profits are so good that now there is a new business: importing inmates with long sentences, meaning the worst criminals. When a federal judge ruled that overcrowding in Texas prisons was cruel and unusual punishment, the CCA signed contracts with sheriffs in poor counties to build and run new jails and share the profits. According to a December 1998 Atlantic Monthly magazine article, this program was backed by investors from Merrill-Lynch, Shearson-Lehman, American Express and Allstate, and the operation was scattered all over rural Texas. That state's governor, Ann Richards, followed the example of Mario Cuomo in New York and built so many state prisons that the market became flooded, cutting into private prison profits.

After a law signed by Clinton in 1996 - ending court supervision and decisions - caused overcrowding and violent, unsafe conditions in federal prisons, private prison corporations in Texas began to contact other states whose prisons were overcrowded, offering "rent-a-cell" services in the CCA prisons located in small towns in Texas. The commission for a rent-a-cell salesman is $2.50 to $5.50 per day per bed. The county gets $1.50 for each prisoner.

STATISTICS

Ninety-seven percent of 125,000 federal inmates have been convicted of non-violent crimes. It is believed that more than half of the 623,000 inmates in municipal or county jails are innocent of the crimes they are accused of. Of these, the majority are awaiting trial. Two-thirds of the one million state prisoners have committed non-violent offenses. Sixteen percent of the country's 2 million prisoners suffer from mental illness.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Centre for Research on Globalization. The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements contained in this article.

To become a Member of Global Research

The CRG grants permission to cross-post original Global Research articles on community internet sites as long as the text & title are not modified. The source and the author's copyright must be displayed. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: crgeditor@yahoo.com

www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the copyright owner.

For media inquiries: crgeditor@yahoo.com

© Copyright Vicky Pelaez, El Diario-La Prensa, New York, 2008

The url address of this article is: www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=8289

And this, my friends, is why we won't get Cannabis legalized until some other harmless activity gets criminalized.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Uh, its not illegal to have a form of involuntary solitude as punishment; chain gangs and work teams were explicitly permitted with the prohibition of chattel slavery.

[Elaro]

Uh, its not illegal to have a form of involuntary solitude as punishment; chain gangs and work teams were explicitly permitted with the prohibition of chattel slavery.

True; however, the problem is not that forced labor exists as punishment, but that people are being imprisoned for the sake of forced labor.

[MKSheppard]

This I find quite dubious, that there's an evil military industrial congressional mediatainment complex actively working to increase sentences, which are entirely up to the Judges and Juries wrt actual punishment, etc.

[CaptainZoidberg]

I find it sickening that under the three strikes rule, a person doing something (relatively) harmless like selling pot could get the same sentence as a serial killer.

What always confuses me is when the most radical libertarians support hard drug laws.

[Kanastrous]

I wonder what special obstacles exist to organizing prison labor. Do felons lose the right to labor representation?

[Darth Wong]

This irrational conspiracy-theory bullshit has no more place here than it does anywhere else. Is there a shred of evidence that there is actually a secret conspiracy to imprison all of these inmates for the sake of getting a source of low-quality unskilled labour, rather than the misguided attempt at stamping out immoral activity that it appears to be?

How about all the voters who supported these "get tough on crime" and "three strikes" policies? Are they part of the conspiracy too? All of this can be explained without the conspiracy, so why resort to such a hypothesis?

[Andrew_Fireborn]

It's hardly in the same league of conspiracy theory as the Staged Moon Landing.

It does rely squarely on the thought that corporations are amoral profit machines with senators by the dozen in their pockets... Oh wait.

And why does everyone contributing to the success of a plot necessarily need to be in on it? It's not like people don't already vote against their interests on a daily basis, because a Politician told them it would make their life better.

Seriously, it isn't even claiming that the government is an infallably sinister organization. It's simply saying that the a number of corperations have found incredibly cheap low & unskilled labor sources, may be lobbying to increase mandatory minimums, and that it's generally voted up as a "tough on crime" measure.

Are ulterior motives that unbelievable as to be lumped in with such tin-foil-hattery as the Jewish Media Controllers?

[Oni Koneko Damien]

Occam's razor.

The evidence for this is the fact that it is demonstrable that loads of people are put in prison, and thus, prison labour, for stupid fucking reasons.

The only problem is that this alone is not evidence enough that there's an actual 'conspiracy' taken place. The more reasonable conclusion is that due to the stupid, but politically attractive 'moral crusade' lawmakers and their constituents enjoy wanking over, a load of people are put in prison for stupid reasons, and a side-effect of that is that a load of people are effectively put into cheap, unskilled, forced labour.

There's no conspiracy here, only corporations doing what they do best: Grabbing onto a 'new' way to make an easy profit.

[bobalot]

On another note, wouldn't these prison industries would be driving honest * Americans out of a job? How can they possibly compete against 25 cents per hour?


* Honest as in obeying all the laws and staying out of prison

[bobalot]

On top of that its the tax payers who are footing the bill for clothing, feeding, and detaining the inmates, while at the same time their jobs are being taken. What a rort.

[Havok]

You know, I have this crazy idea. Now just hear me out cause, like I said, it's crazy. Here goes. If you don't want to worry about being forced to work in prison.... don't commit crimes. Crazy right?

Here's another crazy thought. Prison is supposed to be PUNISHMENT. Having to do something for .25 cents an hour sounds right up punishments alley.

[Darth Wong]

It's hardly in the same league of conspiracy theory as the Staged Moon Landing.

It does rely squarely on the thought that corporations are amoral profit machines with senators by the dozen in their pockets... Oh wait.

These corporations do not have the power to set criminal sentencing guidelines, therefore they are not capable of putting this conspiracy into effect. The fact that they take advantage of it is like the fact that motorists stopped by a beer truck crash to scoop up any unbroken beer bottles. You can NOT prove that a conspiracy is in effect by proving that certain people are benefiting from it; that is CLASSIC conspiracy theorist bullshit thinking.

Seriously, it isn't even claiming that the government is an infallably sinister organization. It's simply saying that the a number of corperations have found incredibly cheap low & unskilled labor sources, may be lobbying to increase mandatory minimums, and that it's generally voted up as a "tough on crime" measure.

Are ulterior motives that unbelievable as to be lumped in with such tin-foil-hattery as the Jewish Media Controllers?

Yes, because stupid people think that motives alone are evidence of a conspiracy. That is the basic mindset behind all conspiracy theory bullshit, and you just demonstrated it.

[SAMAS]

It's a conspiracy of coincidence, but it does seem kinda fucked up when you look at some of the implications.

[Havok]

I do particularly like the comparison to China in the statistics of prison population to general population. Does any one read that and not immediately think, "Right because American citizens are fucking petrified of their government just like the Chinese."

[Andrew_Fireborn]

So, you're saying that, since they don't have control of the police force, and don't themselves hold office, that they can't affect policy in any meaningful way?

True, it's really unlikely that they're doing anything but tapping into a channel of labor. I sincerely doubt that every single company on that list has done anything but a bottom line rundown and permissions seeking.

But to dismiss the thought that at least one of those companies isn't at the least donating money towards groups lobbying for laws that would increase that labor pool, as impossible simply because it sounds conspiratorial...


Hmm....

To take a new angle, what I really object to here, is ultimately a new labor fight. These companies are exploiting a workforce of extremely cheap labor, one that puts even third world labor prices to shame.

Absolutely no one benefits from this except the rich. At the very least, something needs to be done about it on that front. At least with the old resourcing of labor the economies of those other countries were propped up a little.

I'm sure you'll at least agree with that.

[Darth Wong]

It's a conspiracy of coincidence, but it does seem kinda fucked up when you look at some of the implications.

Who says it's even a conspiracy of coincidence? America, the most puritanical of the first-world nations, imprisons a shitload of people. Corporations realize that this is a cheap low-quality labour pool, so they use it. That's a simple cause and effect scenario.

What the authors of the OP article do is turn it on its head and act as if the explosion in prison population was the work of the corporations who are profiting from it, as if the politicians who proposed these sentencing guidelines were pandering to the corporations rather than the voters who clamour for them.

[Darth Wong]

But to dismiss the thought that at least one of those companies isn't at the least donating money towards groups lobbying for laws that would increase that labor pool, as impossible simply because it sounds conspiratorial...

These "get tough on crime" measures have never required intensive lobbying to pass. They pass because politicians are pandering to the portion of the population that DEMANDS them, not because politicians are being influenced by powerful lobby groups.

To take a new angle, what I really object to here, is ultimately a new labor fight. These companies are exploiting a workforce of extremely cheap labor, one that puts even third world labor prices to shame.

Absolutely no one benefits from this except the rich. At the very least, something needs to be done about it on that front. At least with the old resourcing of labor the economies of those other countries were propped up a little.

I'm sure you'll at least agree with that.

No I don't. It's a load of horseshit. If there's an injustice here, it's that people are being imprisoned without proper justification. The idea that prisoners should have some innate right not to be exploited as labour is ridiculous; the rest of us have to work to survive, and they should too. As long as the working conditions are humane, there is no reason why prisoners shouldn't be put to work.

[Andrew_Fireborn]

While I'm sure he got passed over because of the ire I raise here, Bobalot actually touched on it first.

On another note, wouldn't these prison industries would be driving honest * Americans out of a job? How can they possibly compete against 25 cents per hour?


* Honest as in obeying all the laws and staying out of prison

That is what I meant, not "Oh noes, the bad mens are being forced to work against their wills."

I'd have made that clearer, but I forgot who I was dealing with here, and figured this would suffice to clarify my position there.

Absolutely no one benefits from this except the rich. At the very least, something needs to be done about it on that front. At least with the old resourcing of labor the economies of those other countries were propped up a little.

[Darth Wong]

If you think you can't compete against criminals for labour, then I have to wonder what kind of job skills you're bringing to the table.

[Andrew_Fireborn]

Wong, the entire work force will never be purely skilled technical labor.

This isn't about the job skills being brought to the table. This is purely a cost cutting measure. These jobs have been effectively, and permanently filled for beyond bargain basement prices.

People can be taught, but these wages are anti-competitive at best. At the very least, the government should be charging them for the labor at minimum wage level, (With standard hourly riders, like overtime) and using that to finance the prisons. The prisoner shouldn't honestly see a dime of that.

So, I'll ask you again, you're entirely fine with this, a situation that benefits only the rich?

[2000AD]

I find it sickening that under the three strikes rule, a person doing something (relatively) harmless like selling pot could get the same sentence as a serial killer.

Why? Irregardless of opinions on legalisation of cannabis, it's widely known that right now, at this time it is illegal to sell it in the US.
If someone keeps on breaking the same law after being caught and punished for breaking it not once, but twice, then obviously they have no plans to stop breaking the law.
So you either lock them up for one long stretch, or you need to keep on arresting and taking them to court multiple times so they can serve multiple short stretches. Either way it amounts to the same amount of time being served, but locking them away in one big long stretch saves a hell alot of time and effort for the judical system.

[bobalot]

The jobs that are being taken away are jobs that would have been done by people with few technical skills. Thats probably a fair statement.

You could argue they should have gained more skills through training, education etc.

Despite that, I still don't think its fair they should be shafted by a bunch of criminals for little pay they get (And as I understand it, in America the working poor are getting poorer).

A better solution is that the companies would have to pay minimum wage plus benefits, however the criminal would only see 25 cents of it. The rest would go victims of crime or maintaining the prison system.

[bobalot]

There is also the fact it is really the taxpayer who is subsidizing the company.

A normal worker has to be paid a enough to at least feed, clothe and shelter themselves (Whether this is actually the case is debatable), but this is the general rule.

A criminal can be paid 25 cents per hour because he/she is a criminal and food/clothes and shelter is paid for by the taxpayer. In effect the taxpayer is making up the rest of the wage.

It's welfare for big business. Charge them the market rate and use the money for the prison or legal system.

[CaptainZoidberg]

This irrational conspiracy-theory bullshit has no more place here than it does anywhere else. Is there a shred of evidence that there is actually a secret conspiracy to imprison all of these inmates for the sake of getting a source of low-quality unskilled labour, rather than the misguided attempt at stamping out immoral activity that it appears to be?

I still don't really see why it matters if there's a conspiracy. If people hold an attitude of "Let's lock people up for years who use recreational chemicals", and are able to do that without paying the bill on their taxes, then the prisoner's labor is being used and exploited to pay for the moral absurdity of the American populace.

In contrast, if prisoners weren't used for labor, a profit wasn't made, and it was more expensive for the general populace to maintain prisons, then people would start to whine about how much money they have to waste, and inevitably the harsh laws would get revoked.

How about all the voters who supported these "get tough on crime" and "three strikes" policies? Are they part of the conspiracy too? All of this can be explained without the conspiracy, so why resort to such a hypothesis?

Even if there is no conspiracy, more people are getting locked up because of prison labor.