19 votes

Major prison strike spreads across US and Canada as inmates refuse food

3 comments

  1. [3]
    Tenar
    Link
    it's literally in the US constitution though (wiki link): It's not 'called a form of slavery', it literally is. The next paragraph continues on in the same way, quoting prisoners/advocates who...

    High up on the list is an end to forced or underpaid labor that the protesters call a form of modern slavery.

    it's literally in the US constitution though (wiki link):

    The Thirteenth Amendment (Amendment XIII) to the United States Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime

    It's not 'called a form of slavery', it literally is. The next paragraph continues on in the same way, quoting prisoners/advocates who call it a modern form of slavery:

    Kevin Rashid Johnson, who is serving a life sentence in Sussex state prison in Waverly, Virginia, writes in the Guardian that he sees prison work as “slave labor that still exists in the United States in 2018. In fact, slavery never ended in this country.”

    What's the angle here? What's the purpose of (what in my view looks like) writing this off as if it's an opinion thing, or a rhetorical device used by the advocates/prisoners? Am I reading this in bad faith if I say it looks like the author is trying to discredit the protesters?

    7 votes
    1. [2]
      enso
      Link Parent
      Just because something is written into the US constitution doesn't mean that you can't fight against it and view it as a draconian practice. One of the main issues that I and others have is that...

      Just because something is written into the US constitution doesn't mean that you can't fight against it and view it as a draconian practice. One of the main issues that I and others have is that due to the private prison system in the US the slave labor that these inmates are forced to do isn't focused at all on the public good (infrastructure projects, community cleanup, ect...) or learning marketable skills for when they are released, therefore helping them reintegrate into society, but instead solely focused on lining the pockets of whoever runs the prison.

      It's the difference between rehabilitation and just being owned by someone.

      5 votes
      1. Tenar
        Link Parent
        I 100% agree! I just think it's wild that the article doesn't mention any of that. is it lazy writing, bad research (which would be hard to get so wrong), or???? I mean it's crazy that there's...

        I 100% agree! I just think it's wild that the article doesn't mention any of that. is it lazy writing, bad research (which would be hard to get so wrong), or???? I mean it's crazy that there's these strikes that are basically prisoners asking for what you're saying, that they want rehabilitation, fair punishments, etc.

        4 votes