On 2010-02-10, at 1:06 PM, Doug Henwood wrote:
> ...Jiang read and read and read from a long prepared statement and Clinton interrupted him to say a few things, among them that he had nothing against prisons in fact he'd like to put a lot more people in them.
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That sounds pretty damning on the surface, but I'd like to give Clinton the benefit of the doubt and suggest that he may have had the needs of the jobless in mind.
Expanding the prison population by "a lot more people" would absorb a large percentage of the unemployed if properly planned and executed (no pun intended). While America has the highest incarceration rate in the history of the world (three times that of Iran, six times China's), US inmates only account for 1% of the population, so there is still plenty of room for growth with official unemployment currently hovering around 10% and the number of "discouraged" workers much higher than that.
It's a little known fact that prison labour is already making a significant contribution to the US economy. American prisoners reportedly make all of the steel helmets, ammunition belts, bulletproof vests, ID tags and much other equipment used by the US military as well as 93% of domestically produced paints, 36% of home appliances and 21% of office furniture. Although prisoners are not legally required to work, most choose to do so, either attracted by the pay - the New York Times reported last November that inmates responsible for the production of the state's licence plates make between 16 and 42 cents an hour - or because solitary confinement is said to be the alternative for those who decline the offer of employment.
See: http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2010/02/where-are-1-of-american-adults.html; http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/nyregion/11plates.html