Less Crime, More Criminals (was Re: Damien)

[Michael Hoover]

> but what happens when this reserve army is no longer entirely 'in
> reserve', but working, as in prison labour? i don't know what the
> extent of prison labour is in the US, 
> from prison to workhouse?
> and, the collapse of the fiction of wage labour as free labour, but
> now under bureaucratic authority?
> angela

Prison Slave Labor

   Prison slave labor is permitted by the 13th Amendment to the

   Constitution. Since 70% of all prisoners (nationally) are people of

   color, this form of slavery is frighteningly like the slave system

   abolished in 1865.

   Airlines, toy stores, breweries and hotels are raking in profits from

   prison labor without paying for unemployment, health benefits, sick

   leave, vacation or taxes.

   San Quentin prisoners do data entry for Chevron, Bank of America and

   Macys. In New Mexico prisoners take hotel reservations by phone;

   while Spalding golf balls are packaged by prisoners in Hawaii; and in

   Texas prisoners build circuit boards for Dell, IBM and Texas

   instruments. Toys R Us used prisoners night to restock their shelves. 

   Massachusetts prisoners make license plates, including the special 

   Olympic Spirit ones.

   Companies boast their prison workers receive minimum wage, but AT&T

   paid prisoner telemarketers $2 per hour in Colorado and in California

   80% of the wages go directly to the state. That means a prisoner who

   is making $4.25 per hour actually receives 84 cents per hour.

   Prison Activists Resource Center (www.prisonactivists.org)

   

   Michael Hoover