From: Lorenzo Ervin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: August 24, 2000 5:19:40 AM GMT
> Subject: [BRC-NEWS] Prison: The New Slavery?
>
>
> The Rest of the News
>
> August 15, 2000
>
> Prison: The New Slavery?
>
> By Lorenzo Komboa Ervin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> Leave it to capitalism to find a way to make a profit
> from someone else's misery. Over two million of our friends,
> neighbors, and relatives are in state and federal prisons,
> for whatever reason, right now. The Prison-Industrial Complex,
> as it is called by some activists is really a "new" form of
> slavery with a "twist", it's highly profitable several
> different ways.
>
> I only call it "new" advisedly because chattel slavery
> in the early days of this country also had a profit motive,
> but today's slavery is corporate slavery run by some of the
> biggest businesses in the country. Its motive is to take a
> mass prison population of poor people and to make money by:
> (1) charging rent and fees for being in jail, (2) private
> prisons, (3) setting up prison corporations to compete
> with "free" labor, and (4) exploitation of prison labor
> by "factories behind fences".
>
> With the rise of the current right-wing (anti-crime)
> political agenda by both of the major political parties in
> this country, more and more prisoners have been preyed upon
> by a vindictive public, egged on by the greedy politicians.
> For years, the masses of people have been told that prisoners
> are being "coddled" and treated better than the average
> worker outside, and in return they want to inflict pain on
> them more. "Take away their tv sets and radios, seize their
> weight lifting equipment, stop their visitation with their
> families, lock 'em in their cells 24 hours-a day, and while
> you're at it make 'em pay rent just like we do!" These are
> poor people, many of whom committed crimes in the first
> place because they couldn't pay their own rent, less known
> paying the state's rent while in prison. It's a foolish
> idea, and is even more punitive than the politicians called
> for, but they were quick to latch on to it. "What a great
> idea, we *can* get blood from a turnip!"
>
> The idea of creating a private corporation to run the prison
> system began in 1980 with a Nashville-based company called
> Corrections Corporation of America. After taking over the
> Hamilton County (TN.) workhouse for its first contract in
> 1981, CCA has now spread to 32 states, and several foregin
> countries. It is traded on the New York and American stock
> exchanges, and has made its investors billions of dollars
> in profits. The way it works is that it takes over a prison
> or series of prisons, promising local government and state
> officials that it can save substantial amounts of money by
> running the prison as a morfe efficient "business". This
> has yet to be proven, even though it slashes the wages of
> prison guards, and cuts back on prisoner expenses for food,
> medicine and other supplies. What we do know is that the
> conditions for the people inside worsens drastically, when a
> private company takes over. In fact, ten persons have died
> at the Silverdale workhouse outside Chattanooga since CCA
> has taken over, and similar artrocities have befallen CCA
> facilities all over the country, whether the beating or
> deaths of prisoners, escapes, riots, or strikes. But the
> mistreatment of prisoners or their protests did not affect
> the bottom line at all of the CCA prison capitalists. In
> fact, smelling money, other corporations, especially its
> main competitor Wackenhut Correctional Services, have
> entered ther fray like sharks feeding on a bloody carcass.
> The market between all the corporations is $4 billion
> dollars in contracts now, and they don't intend to be
> left out!
>
> Another bulding block of the prison-industrial complex is
> prison industrial corporations such as the UNICOR, run by
> the Fedral Prison Industries. UNICOR, based in almost all
> the federal prisons, makes everything from guided missle
> parts to clothing and furniture for the military and federal
> agencies, in fact they make over 500 items. It may surprise
> some to hear that they have almost $100-500 million dollars
> in sales, and $30-$50 million in profits each year. By
> contrast, the prisoners make about $1.00-$2.00 per hour.
> For years, federal law forbade them from competing with
> free labor, but this has now been changed, and the low waged
> prison labor is being used to not only undermine free labor,
> but drive companies out of business in the private sector.
> The state prisons have now formed similar companies to run
> their own prison businesses. One thing for sure, it's not
> just license plates they make any more!
>
> Finally, so called "factories behind fences", where a
> company is allowed to hire or rent a prisoner sales force
> or customer service team, is becoming more and more common.
> Some of the largest companies in America: Microsoft, TWA,
> Sears Roebuck and others are using prisoners as customer
> service agents, seamstresses, airline reservation agents,
> assemblers, and other workers. This even includes the
> creation of unique brands of clothing and other products
> such as "Prison Blues" denim jeans, which are made
> exclusively in prison workshops. This slave labor has not
> yet been vehemently objected to by either organized labor,
> civil rights groups or prisoners rights organizations,
> though a number of exposes have been done by the radical
> press. But an effective coalition must be built before it
> will stop.
>
> The upshot of all this is that this is slavery, and even
> though the 13th amendment to the national constitution
> allegedly outlaws slavery, ("except for commission of a
> crime") it is permitted because these slaves don't belong to
> a plantation owner, but to the state. They are just "rented
> out" to capitalist corporations. It is also popular because
> of the anti-crime hysteria, and putting the prisoners to
> work is a popular idea. Yet, nobody is seeing the real
> picture.
>
> Although we want to end prison slavery entirely, prisoners'
> rights activists, civil libertarians and the Black community
> generally, must demand that these prisoners be given the
> same rights as workers outside: that they be covered by OSHA
> regulations to ensure a safe workplace, that they be given
> the same rights to organize labor unions, and that they not
> be exploited by their keepers with their eyes on a fast buck.
> They should be paid the same living wage as workers on the
> outside. Ultimately the whole question, the outright abolition,
> or at least of a moratorium on the building of prisons has
> to be factored in, but this will do for now. Some fairness
> in the current system.
>
> Copyright (c) 2000 Lorenzo Ervin. All Rights Reserved.
>
>
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