[lbo-talk] new frontiers in prison labor and racism

[Eubulides]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-inmates1mar01,0,7469220.story

Colorado to use inmates to fill migrant shortage
Tough laws passed last year against illegal immigration have created a need for 
farmworkers.


By Nicholas Riccardi
Times Staff Writer
March 1, 2007

DENVER - Ever since passing what its Legislature promoted as the nation's 
toughest laws against illegal immigration last summer, Colorado has struggled 
with a labor shortage as migrants fled the state. This week, officials announced 
a novel solution: Use convicts as farmworkers.

The Department of Corrections hopes to launch a pilot program this month - 
thought to be the first of its kind - that would contract with more than a dozen 
farms to provide inmates who will pick melons, onions and peppers.

Crops were left to spoil in the fields after the passage of legislation that 
required state identification to get government services and allowed police to 
check suspects' immigration status.

"The reason this [program] started is to make sure the agricultural industry 
wouldn't go out of business," state Rep. Dorothy Butcher said. Her district 
includes Pueblo, near the farmland where the inmates will work.

Prisoners who are a low security risk may choose to work in the fields, earning 
60 cents a day. They also are eligible for small bonuses.

The inmates will be watched by prison guards, who will be paid by the farms. The 
cost is subject to negotiation, but farmers say they expect to pay more for the 
inmate labor and its associated costs than for their traditional workers.

Advocates on both sides of the immigration debate said they were stunned by the 
proposal.

"If they can't get slaves from Mexico, they want them from the jails," said Mark 
Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, which favors 
restrictions on immigration.

Ricardo Martinez of the Denver immigrant rights group Padres Unidos asked: "Are 
we going to pull in inmates to work in the service industry too? You won't have 
enough inmates - unless you start importing them from Texas."

Farmers said they weren't happy with the solution, but their livelihoods are on 
the verge of collapse.

"This prison labor is not a cure for the immigration problem; it's just a 
Band-Aid," farmer Joe Pisciotta said.

He said he needed to be sure he would have enough workers for the harvest this 
fall before he planted watermelons, onions and pumpkins on his 700-acre farm in 
Avondale. But he's not thrilled with the idea of criminals working his fields.

"I've got young kids," he said. "It's something I've got to think about."

Pisciotta said he hoped the program highlighted what he viewed as the absurdity 
of Colorado's position - dependent on immigrant labor but trying to chase 
migrants away. He said the people leaving were not just those who entered the 
country illegally.

"Some of them have said, 'We think our paperwork is in order, but how about if 
it's not and we get caught on a glitch,' " he said.

Ever since the Democratic-controlled Legislature took a tough turn on 
immigration, the new requirements have worried those in the country legally and 
illegally.

Immigrant advocates allege that some sheriffs have authorized deputies to pull 
over Latino drivers on supposed speeding violations and ask them whether they 
are in the country legally.

And more stringent requirements put into effect last year made it harder to get 
a driver's license. Numerous U.S. citizens, including the daughter of a state 
legislator, were refused licenses because they lacked proper proof of 
citizenship. A judge has since ruled that the requirements must be revised.

Social service agencies say they have discovered few illegal immigrants on 
public assistance since the laws were passed.

Immigrant and business groups agree that the heated rhetoric has led to an 
exodus of Latinos - though no one is sure how many. Businesses including 
carwashes and construction firms have complained of a worker shortage.

"It's like, 'Don't go visit that house, there's a guy with a shotgun at the 
door,' " said state Rep. Rafael Gallegos, who represents a heavily Latino 
agricultural district in south-central Colorado. He voted against most of the 
legislation.

Farmers on Monday met with state officials at the Capitol here to discuss using 
inmate labor. The Department of Corrections expects to begin sending about 100 
prisoners to work on farms near Pueblo this month.

Some of the state's 22,000 prisoners have agricultural experience. Convicts can 
participate in programs on prison grounds to break wild horses and grow crops. 
About 700 inmates work in other jobs outside prison, such as on fire crews.

Ari Zavaras, the executive director of the Department of Corrections, said he 
knew of no other prison system in the nation using convicts to fill agricultural 
labor shortages.

In California, where growers also have complained about a lack of workers, 
inmates have not labored in private fields since the 1940s. Prisoners then were 
used as farmhands while laborers were fighting in World War II, said Terry 
Thornton, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections.

"The idea [of using prisoners on farms] has been floated before, but these are 
not unskilled jobs. They're jobs that require a lot of training and 
supervision," said David Kranz, a spokesman for the California Farm Bureau 
Federation. "It doesn't seem like a very practical alternative."

Krikorian, of the Center for Immigration Studies, said the Colorado prison 
experiment was "a sign that there are solutions other than importing foreign 
labor."

He said "ultimately they're going to have to improve the wages and working 
conditions" to attract legal workers, as well as to mechanize parts of their 
farming operations.

Colorado's experience shows that hard-line measures have an effect on illegal 
immigrants, Krikorian added, noting that arrests had dropped along the 
U.S.-Mexico border since security was increased last year.

"We're seeing enforcement work, not just in Colorado," he said, "but all over 
the country."