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  1. genuinemommy

    genuinemommy Moderator Staff Member

    Did you know that in the USA prisoners are involved in highly hazardous Jobs?

    From Fighting Wildfires to Digging Graves, Incarcerated Workers Face Danger on the Job | Vera Institute

    A family member was in prison for a DUI. He trained to be and worked as a wildland firefighter during some of the most horrific fires that hit California that year.

    He did this dangerous work because he was promised a job when he got out.

    Guess what happened when he got out?
    There were no jobs for him.

    Yeah... He fell into a deep depression and died of a drug overdose.

    And somehow I'm not seeing many people stepping up to express a problem with employing prisoners this way.

    What do you think about this topic?
    Want to chat about it?
     
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  2. rogue49

    rogue49 Tech Kung Fu Artist Staff Member

    Location:
    Baltimore/DC
    Unfortunately for decades, centuries and millennia, nations and groups have used prisoners for indentured servants, if not outright slave labor.
    We're actually doing better these days altogether than the past.

    For example, the movie, Brubaker...a Robert Redford movie where he plays a new warden finding out the abuses in a prison in the deep south of the US.

    Just a easy victim to many, and the prisoners often have no choice...or the choices given to them are incredibly poor...a no win situation, other than a ounce of pay and get out of the jailcell. (maybe a chance to escape too, to be real)

    It's just like the famous speech by the boss in Cool Hand Luke...a sardonic turn of phrasing, if one has ever heard it...and says it all, inbetween the lines.

    It's a topic worth talking about.

    At least, if people do talk...then it makes them aware and reminds them...and something better can happen in the future, if even just to vote reformers in or put them in office.
    Baby steps...even to this day.

    Hell, much of the American prison system is setup to be a "for profit" entity, literal and LEGAL by current laws.
    Who do you think they're making the $$$ off of? Businesses using "cheap labor".

    This is the dark side of humanity. :mad::(:oops:
     
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  3. Chris Noyb

    Chris Noyb Get in, buckle up, hang on, & be quiet. Donor

    Location:
    Large City, TX
    This' a huge gray area.

    Forcing prisiners to work is a clear no go, legally speaking.

    Giving prisoners a chance to work off part of their sentence is a good thing, provided everything is on the level.

    Tying the work offers to hazardous work that endangers the inmates should be a legal no go.

    But what if the inmates agree with eyes wide open?
    But isn't making such an offer to a desperate person still unethical, even if legal?

    There's also the question of effects on businesses that have to pay regular people regular wages (to borrow from a movie, think The Shawshank Redemption).


    A related thought (separate thread?)...
    Nearly everyone in the US is familiar with Goodwill Industries. What isn't so well known is there are laws allowing Goodwill to pay employees way under minimum wage.

    Is it exaggerated?
    Goodwill's Triumphs and Controversies: What to Know Before You Go Poppin' Tags

    Is it old news?
    Disabled workers paid just pennies an hour – and it's legal

    Is it exaggerated?
    About the Special Minimum Wage Certificate – Goodwill Industries International