Yep. The ~~14th~~ 13th Amendment is anti-slavery but has a carve-out for prisoners. Prisons use slave labor and private prisons are companies that profit from slavery.
America is a slave state.
this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2024
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Abolition of police and prisons
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Abolish is to flourish! Against the prison industrial complex and for transformative justice.
See Critical Resistance's definitions below:
The Prison Industrial Complex
The prison industrial complex (PIC) is a term we use to describe the overlapping interests of government and industry that use surveillance, policing, and imprisonment as solutions to economic, social and political problems.
Through its reach and impact, the PIC helps and maintains the authority of people who get their power through racial, economic and other privileges. There are many ways this power is collected and maintained through the PIC, including creating mass media images that keep alive stereotypes of people of color, poor people, queer people, immigrants, youth, and other oppressed communities as criminal, delinquent, or deviant. This power is also maintained by earning huge profits for private companies that deal with prisons and police forces; helping earn political gains for "tough on crime" politicians; increasing the influence of prison guard and police unions; and eliminating social and political dissent by oppressed communities that make demands for self-determination and reorganization of power in the US.
Abolition
PIC abolition is a political vision with the goal of eliminating imprisonment, policing, and surveillance and creating lasting alternatives to punishment and imprisonment.
From where we are now, sometimes we can't really imagine what abolition is going to look like. Abolition isn't just about getting rid of buildings full of cages. It's also about undoing the society we live in because the PIC both feeds on and maintains oppression and inequalities through punishment, violence, and controls millions of people. Because the PIC is not an isolated system, abolition is a broad strategy. An abolitionist vision means that we must build models today that can represent how we want to live in the future. It means developing practical strategies for taking small steps that move us toward making our dreams real and that lead us all to believe that things really could be different. It means living this vision in our daily lives.
Abolition is both a practical organizing tool and a long-term goal.
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14th Amendment
It's the 13th, but otherwise accurate.
Whoops, you're right. Both have been of discussion lately and got mixed up.
Easy enough mistake to make..
While this is awful, imagine for a moment how fucked it is that our agricultural market is so depressed that it can only function if we pay "illegal" immigrants such a low wage that no one else would accept it, to the point that when that supply dries up, we can't possibly solve the problem except with legalized slavery.
They can function with legal laborers, they deliberately choose not to because they can rely on a permanently endangered domestic underclass that they can super-exploit for supet-profits.
I saw someone recently express a wish to see ~~prisoners~~ slaves burn down the factories and businesses of anyone who uses their forced labor. And I can't think of a more beautiful and justified action.
And I'll say what I said then, this doesn't count for voluntary work programs, unless they are "voluntary" and you get punished for not accepting them.
I truly hope to see the news when this happens. Slavery is one of the worst evils in the world, and the 13th amendment needs to be changed so that it's no longer allowed.
I don't see the controversy, it's literally in the constitution. The 13th ammendment didn't end slavery, it restricted it.
...well, i see the controversy but it's beyond the letter of the law...
Don't be worse than Russia. Please fix.
At this point I should add it to my bio.
Exactly.
Always has been.
Slavery remained legal as a punishment for crime, it was never completely abolished
God i hate this part about the USA. That's so uncivilized and barbaric, this is the 21th century and i always imagined it to be.... Cooler. Like the star-trek-utopia. But it turned out to be(come) a mixture of 1984, soylent green, lord of the flies and... Ah forget it.
You forgot Brave New World.
Aye. Another commenter added the perfect picture...
this is the 21th century and i always imagined it to be.... Cooler. Like the star-trek-utopia.
Sounds like communism
Although i highly benefit from capitalism, it's the worst. Would prefer communism
What happens if you simply refuse to work? Extended sentence? Psychological torture?
Prison guard says you were behaving poorly and beats you. It goes in your record that you caused problems. The parole board is advised not to give you leniency
To everyone saying "I wouldn't work", an advice: there's a better way. Be the one that fucks up the work by "being stupid". Refusing to work can be punished; being stupid is not.
You underestimate systemic cruelty.
If you don't want to clean the bathroom you can say "I won't" or do it once and say "look how clean it is now. And I have used that nice brush that's beside the WC".
Why do you think most laws are made to disproportionately effect non white people negatively
america's prison system is the new slave trade
Anyone repukelicans view as beneath them or against their bigoted beleifs can be targeted by this and this is a major reason not to let trumpet into office
I'm glad I don't live in america but trumpet is a potential threat to other countries as well
Would be fine if it was truly voluntary. Work programs can actually help.
This. If the prisoners are given the option to work instead of spend time in jail, and if they pay them for that labour, even if it's subsidized or whatever, this goes from questionably legal slavery to a work program for inmates.
It becomes a way for the inmates to get some cash, and gain practical work skills for when they eventually get released. The money should probably be saved for basic needs when released (food, housing, etc) and the work skills can be applied in future jobs. At least they would have some experience with working that will hopefully help them get a job after they're released.
There's still a big problem of people hiring ex-convicts, but that's a separate issue to be solved.
They could have turned this "you mean slavery?" Moment into a PR win simply by making the work voluntary and giving them modest compensation.
Also if it's a decent company then you might have a job lined up for you once you're out since you've worked there already and shown you can handle the job and so on. And having a job, income, some normalcy once you go out goes a long way. Turns this from exploitation to a way to reintroduce people to life outside of prison and whatnot. Not that companies wouldn't benefit from this too, since it'd most likely be less money than a normal full-time worker, but it could be a rare win-win situation if handled correctly.
Well, if there are slaves, we might as well hire some Balrogs to whip them. Make em get dat yung harvest quicker.
That's why prisoner should have a normal working wage and not the special prisoner wage.
"They deserve that because they're criminals."
I'll just ignore the fact that you believe criminals don't deserve basic human rights and ask if you really believe innocent people don't go to jail. Do you actually think the police you watch mess up daily never make mistakes?
The concept of"Mens rea" provides important context that is missing from your observation.
Perfect observation! The criminal justice system is chock full of folks with mens rea, cops, judges, most of the staff in most of the jails... Good point!