this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2025

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Working on California's incarcerated fire crews: "It is kind of like you’re a slave" (www.motherjones.com)

submitted 1 year ago by BrikoX@lemmy.zip to c/usa@midwest.social

16 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Some 1,100 prison recruits are battling LA's infernos, risking life and health for less than $2 an hour—yet still the jobs are coveted.

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[–] RangerJosie@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's not kinda like slavery. It's just slavery. No extra steps. No flavor text. It's just slavery.

[+] reddig33@lemmy.world -12 points 1 year ago (3 children)

It’s VOLUNTARY. It’s not slavery. No one is making them do this. They also get paid (though not enough). They also get reduced sentences. In California they also may get their record expunged. Read the article.

[–] zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Incorrect. Read this instead: https://www.aclu.org/news/human-rights/captive-labor-exploitation-of-incarcerated-workers

Today, more than 76 percent of incarcerated workers surveyed by the Bureau of Justice Statistics say that they are required to work or face additional punishment such as solitary confinement, denial of opportunities to reduce their sentence, and loss of family visitation.

Do you know what you call someone that gets punished if they don't work? It's not volunteer.

[–] hypna@lemmy.world -3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The article doesn't go into much detail about the breakdown of those punishments. That second category, "denial of opportunities to reduce their sentence," doesn't sound like punishment. The opportunity to reduce their sentence is doing the work. I'm worried that's being used to pad the 76% stat.

[–] zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They have the opportunities, then the opportunities are taken away. That's punishment. The opportunities the ACLU mentions are not the same as the reductions that are promised to workers.

Those who refuse to work also typically lose all privileges, including access to personal telephone calls, family visitation, and access to the commissary to buy food and other basic necessities. If they refuse a work assignment, incarcerated people in federal and most state prisons additionally risk losing the opportunity to shorten their sentence through earned “good time,” effectively extending their incarceration.

Exactly what percentage would make using denial of family visits acceptable to you? Solitary confinement?

If you're actually interested in the information and not just trying to justify being a dick, here's the ~150 page report that I pulled the quote from https://www.aclu.org/publications/captive-labor-exploitation-incarcerated-workers

Please read it, follow the citations to the documents where the statistics come from, and let us know the breakdown of the statistics that make slavery justifiable for you.

[–] hypna@lemmy.world -5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Imagine responding to someone's concern without flipping your shit at them.

[–] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 year ago

Anyone come at me defending slavery I will flip my shit.

[–] zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev 4 points 1 year ago

If you were concerned about the people and not the statistics, which you bothered to cast doubt on but didn't bother to actually look anything up, I might take you seriously.

[–] SoftTeeth@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Indentured servitude was voluntary. Im sure if you were alive before we considered that slavery you'd be an apologist for that form of slavery as well.

They can sit in a cell or they can be rented as property and get to go outside.

That's not exactly a choice, you can do nothing or something, and you should be grateful for the something even if it's slavery.

What a horrible worldview.

[–] RangerJosie@lemmy.world -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Slavery apologists on lemmy.

Shouldn't you be on reddit?

[–] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Slavery is never moral, but is still legal in the US.

Many US companies use slave labor to undercut the wages paid to free citizens.

[–] JokeDeity@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

Undercut the starvation wages.

[–] jaggedrobotpubes@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Each one of them gets a fully paid-off house valued at one million dollars for their service, paid for by fossil fuel profits.

[–] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

*SHOULD get.

that would be something to behold.