Community service, prison labor, or slavery: which do you call it, and why?

SatanBurger · 36-40, F

I call prison labor, slavery because judges exploit drug addicts by sending them to work in factories where they pocket their pay. As a result factory management fires workers for workers they can get practically for free.

www.revealnews.org/article/they-thought-they-were-going-to-rehab-they-ended-up-in-chicken-plants/amp/

[quote] Aside from daily cans of Dr Pepper, McGahey wasn’t addicted to anything. The judge knew that. But the Chicken Farm sounded better than prison.

A few weeks later, McGahey stood in front of a speeding conveyor belt inside a frigid poultry plant, pulling guts and stray feathers from slaughtered chickens destined for major fast food restaurants and grocery stores.

There wasn’t much substance abuse treatment at CAAIR. It was mostly factory work for one of America’s top poultry companies. If McGahey got hurt or worked too slowly, his bosses threatened him with prison.

And he worked for free. CAAIR pocketed the pay.

“It was a slave camp,” McGahey said. “I can’t believe the court sent me there.”[/quote]

LegionIscariot

Well i wouldn't call locking up a prisoner as kidnapping.
So i wont call prison labor slavery.

33person · 26-30, M

@LegionIscariot Not trying to be a hardass, but I asked what you would call it, not what you wouldn't call it. But you did give me a reason.

JordanAlorow · 26-30, M

Also add: College Credit

Clever way of getting work done using students.

CountScrofula · 41-45, M

I see all three as being distinct.

That said prison labour can approach slavery - if your society is setup to incarcerate people in order to work involuntarily for for-profit companies there's something deeply morally wrong.

SomeLikeItHot ·

Public Servants exploiting your situation.

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SomeLikeItHot ·

@33person
Have to make through either Probation or Parole to limit the amount of control that they have over you.

33person · 26-30, M

@SomeLikeItHot My issue is just that we should never, ever create an economic incentive to keep prison populations high.

SomeLikeItHot ·

@33person
It does seem to cloud the process of justice.

TheOneyouwerewarnedabout · 41-45, MVIP

Free labor.. break rocks

bijouxbroussard · F

I don’t call either slavery, because that’s different. Community service and prison labor are both the result of having been convicted of a crime.

33person · 26-30, M

@bijouxbroussard Here's my dilemma: "community service," to me, sounds voluntary, while "prison labor" sounds compulsory.

bijouxbroussard · F

@33person I’m not sure what you’re asking. Neither are voluntary, but sometimes people are sentenced to community service instead of jail time, for a first offense, for example. Regardless of how it may sound.

33person · 26-30, M

@bijouxbroussard Sometimes people need a certain amount of volunteer hours or community service in order to be in the honors program at their university, or something like that. To me, that deserves a different name than involuntary prison labor.

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