prison labor
-
The 'Forgotten Population': Yusef Salaam Speaks Out About COVID-19 and the Prison Industrial Complex
“There’s going to be a more serious health crisis as it relates to the prison industrial complex and a prison population. Whatever we are seeing in the world is going to be times ten—it’s going to be magnified in the prison industrial complex.” —Yusef Salaam, Ph.D. text In the state of New York alone, there…
-
This Black History Month, Let’s Recognize the African-American Prisoners Who Helped Build America
Like much of the rest of the discourse around jails, prisons and mass incarceration, Black History Month is not usually a time when we talk about the thousands of black prisoners that were forced to build America after the Civil War. It’s time to recognize them because the postwar South was literally rebuilt on their…
-
La. Sheriff Furious at New Laws Allowing for Release of ‘Good,’ Nonviolent Inmates Because ‘We Use Them to Wash Cars’
In case you ever wondered about the way (some) correctional officers see their inmates, I lead you no further than to Caddo Parish, La., Sheriff Steve Prator, who is ranting and raging mad about new criminal-justice reform laws that will go into effect next month—because it will mean getting rid of cheap labor. But don’t…
-
Mass. Sheriff Who Offered Free Inmate Labor to Help Build Trump’s Wall Now Proposes to Send Inmates to Help With Harvey Damage
Bristol County, Mass., Sheriff Thomas Hodgson is proposing to send county inmates to help the city of Houston clean up the devastating destruction caused by Hurricane Harvey. This is not the first time Hodgson has offered up his inmates as labor, drawing criticism earlier this year after proposing to send inmates to help build President…
-
Hillary Clinton, Jeff Sessions and America’s Secret Slave System
Contrary to popular belief, slavery was never outlawed in the United States. This statement is not a debatable, half-twisted analysis or a cynical opinion. It is a fact. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution does not outlaw slavery; it only prohibits slavery in certain situations. It is entirely constitutional to turn drug dealers, gangbangers and…
-
Justice Department Announces Investigation Into Ala. Prison Conditions
The U.S. Department of Justice will be conducting an investigation into the conditions at Alabama’s prisons for men, it announced in a statement Thursday. “The investigation will focus on whether prisoners are adequately protected from physical harm and sexual abuse at the hands of other prisoners; whether prisoners are adequately protected from use of excessive…