Prison Labor: Modern SLAVERY?

Is slavery alive and well in the United States prison system? Inmates today are forced to work, often for just pennies an hour.

The images of mostly Black inmates working on former plantations-turned-prisons like Angola in Louisiana conjure up some pretty unpleasant images of racism and slavery in the South. But some argue that prison labor plays an important role in rehabilitation. Do prisons exist to punish or to rehabilitate? Depending on your answer, that may affect how you view prison labor, and more broadly, prisoners’ rights.

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[Tsukiko.]

If you want modern slavery just look at the majority of slave trades that are still continuing in Africa.

[DanCojocaru]

That feeling when you think this video is, unlike the others, biased, but then you get to the other half of the video and the whole opposite side of the argument appears. Chris, you've done it again!

[ryanj]

I promote this channel and China Uncensored whenever I can. Real news, limited bias, with a touch of sarcasm to enhance the entertainment value. Thanks Chris and Team.

[LovinLife-pvop]

If they work, they should be paid minimum wage. I worked with developmentally disabled. They were paid $0.50 an hour to mow lawns, break down cardboard, etc.

[NODnuke]

Prisons clearly get better results when they're geared towards rehabilitation, but Warden Burl Cain made a very good point. Rehabilitating prisoners in prisons is a solution to the effects of a problem, it does not solve the problem(s) that caused the imprisonment of the inmates which the prison systems are trying to rehabilitate, whatever those problems may be.

[watt]

1:03 Jokes on you, I'm seeing this on my computer 😎😎😎😎

[johnrildo]

The biggest problem with allowing prisons to make money off the prisoners, is that it encourages the prison industry to get more people into prison, which makes it more likely for innocent people to end up in prison for petty laws.

It can be good to let prisoners work, so long as the goal of them working is to convert them into better people. If it is profit driven, then it will be bad for the entire population. If it is punishment driven, then it will lead to inevitable abuse.

[Aquatography]

Another wonderful video. I love how you present honest and unbiased points of both sides of an issue. I always thought that prison labor was a good thing. I never even realized there was another point of view. Thank You for opening my eyes. I can't wait for the next episode.

[NoOne-hlyr]

Half of the people seem to be okay with this. Because it's not them.

[rogersheddy]

Prison is for both Rehabilitation and Punishment.
Rape and murder are crimes that formerly were death. You cannot rehabilitate a dead victim especially a murdered rape victim.

Having said that I am surprised you had not one mention of the Shawshank Redemption....

I once met a fellow who told me about how when he was in prison he entered one of these Rehabilitation work programs in which he was an employee of Habitat for Humanity getting something like $0.14 per hour for helping them to build houses. After his release he went to Habitat for Humanity and applied for a job. With the utmost disdain they told him, "we don't hire your kind here."
In other words Jimmy Carter has been busy making use of that prison system to do this "charity" on the backs of others.

A very Shawshank thing.

[dodgechance]

Another interesting topic. Keep it up!


(I also just became a Patron)

[theJellyjoker]

Don't want to be a slave?
Don't break the law!

[beans]

Saying that prison labor isn’t slavery because they’re housed, fed, and clothes by the prison just sounds like an antebellum defense for plantations. They’re still abused and underpaid, and our “criminal justice” is still full of loopholes for plenty of innocent people to fall into.

[erichopper]

Are prisons slave labor? My inclination is to say "Yes.". Mostly because a lack of labor often entails direct punishment.

That's one problem I have with most prison rehabilitation programs. They're basically made mandatory by threat of punishment. Participation in them should be encouraged with carrots, not forced with sticks. A program you are compelled to participate seems like it would be a lot less effective.

I guess I'd like to see statistics about that though.

Also, there are almost no knowledge worker jobs in prison. To be fair, the ability of the average inmate to do that sort of job is on average less than the general population. But there are a lot of inmates who could do them. And those kinds of jobs are a much better preparation for eventual release.

[michdem]

Keep in mind that if that would be happening in China or Russia it would not be considered a "rehabilitation technique"

[MoonatikYT]

Well regulated and well-managed prison labour pays for itself, overall you'll end up with less reoffending criminals and more hardworking taxpayers.

[---ufzl]

Private companies also sometimes use their power to increase the number of inmates (by influencing courts) in order to have a greater workforce. Which is a horrible thing, undeniably.

[wilsontheknight]

I did some research on rehabilitation over retribution. And what I found was interesting. In Norway, Sweden, and Germany they allow inmates to wear their own clothes, provide them with their own room and bathroom, allow them to cook their own meals, and use things such as swimming pools, play instruments, play video games. They have the lowest recidivism rate in the world. The prisons also focus on mental rehabilitation as well as forgiveness with the victims. They do provide work, but the conditions are more than fair and they can spend it on some shops in the prison.

One side argues that giving them labor is a way of humanizing them. Well that’s pretty funny to think because these countries have found a way to humanize them without forcing them to work. This argument that work makes people more human is just a way to make people turn a blind eye to what this is slavery. These inmates might be paid but how much say do they have in whether they want to work or not?

It’s inhuman to force this sort of labor. The labor in other countries does not directly benefit a corporation its suppose to benefit the person. This is a form of modern day slavery.

[michaelfrench]

I was on a chain gang in Florida for "disorderly conduct." Which basically means the police don't like how you are acting (though you're not doing anything specifically illegal) and they lock you up. I did 30 days working ten hours Monday they Friday. I got paid zero. That is slavery. No one should be profiting off of the unpaid work that I did. Thankfully they were kind enough to serve us 1800 calories a day.

[gabrielking]

As a non American my question is how tf can you have private prisons, the whole concept of that is extracting wealth from troubled members of society