34 Comments
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Patricia Lane's avatar

It’s hard to believe where greed and inhumanity have taken us.

This is clearly not the United States. This is an arrangement established to hurt people and in some , not so rare cases, kill them.

We need to stop this horrific practice.

We need reasonable leaders with morals.

This vile system needs to be broken , never to return .

DEBRA's avatar

this work program will not stop with ICE, they are going to try this on us ALL.

cat's avatar

No More Enslavement, in ALL its forms its illegal and if anyone were to engage in it, should recieve an appropriate punishment, like making pea gravel the hard way. No more prison sanctioned slave labor, its unconstitutional and unfare to prisoners. the prisoners theyre taking advantage of now may be subverted from release because they want their labor(already happening). people are suffering, namely prisoners, being kept in prison for their labor, prison slavery must end now

Libby's avatar

I'm surprised they haven't resurrected chain-gangs. All that fruit and veg going to waste. Smh

Sir Dave 'tmo' Soule's avatar

We outlawed royalty and now we're recreating it. Burger KING, Dairy QUEEN, ROYAL Tire: all nostalgia. Now SCOTUS has crowned a president.

In the same way, we fought a war to end slavery, then immediately set about legalizing slavery all over again. Reagan asserted the privatizing government services makes them more efficient, as if a layer of profit would guarantee justice. Privatizing a government removes oversight; the free market is not involved in handing off public goods to campaign donors because we can't vote the corporations out, and because anything can be defined as a trade secret.

Cinthia Teague's avatar

Does this apply to only immigration or to all prisoners in US private prisons? From the article it sounds like depending on the Supreme Court decision it could apply to all prisoners in the US.

Dissent in Bloom 🌻's avatar

So, this already applies to private prisoners because of the 13th amendment clause that says slavery is OK as punishment of a crime. The SCOTUS ruling will decide if it's OK for them to use immigration detainees for slave labor, too.

Saffi's avatar

Let us not conflate convicts with people detained illegally, having committed no crime. If convicts clean the place where they live, and cook for the population, how is that different from what every person has to do? Even in a private household, everyone cleans, and whoever cooks, makes food for everyone. Why should murderers and rapists have cooks and maid service? They should perform life tasks like everyone else. I don't get paid to mop my own floor!

Dissent in Bloom 🌻's avatar

Slavery is wrong no matter what.

Saffi's avatar

How is cleaning your living quarters and cooking food for yourself and others slavery? They are contributing to their own upkeep. They should never be contracted out to profit the company, or forced to work to profit the company. Private prisons are a disgrace. They should be government run, as previously.

Jesse's avatar

♾️🌏♾️

Privatization of prisons was not the first sign of Hitlarian Fascism when it started at least 3 decades ago this was the intent. Mimicking the concentration camps that put forth slave crews daily for every level of work and the demeaning of the captured and or incarcerated Victims encouraged. From households to Peenemunde weapons Labs.

Watching so many things Like this coming to fruition from the right wing for over 6 Decades has been nightmarish. Soon bidding and contractual supply of slave labor by privatized prison will be commonplace "IF" we don't stop it. Prisons in a Democracy cannot exist I don't remember but I don't think I ever saw it on a ballot. That aside punishment is to be administered by the Democratic society. Not by the deep south style county chain gangs run by the KKK in the 60's, 70's,50's into the 80's probably.

Over the years it has been incredibly hard emotionally to vote even locally. ALWAYS saying to myself that you have too. Even being told the 1st time I voted that if I took what I thought was the legal time off to go vote That I would be fired and that my vote did not matter. It was for the Carter /Reagan election. I was a Framer that had to drive 50 miles to my precinct there was no early or mail in voting. I believe Reagan was elected in a very low turnout election . Since then being ridiculed quite often for pointing this out over beers after work or speaking to people at the hardware or grocery Laughed at even as they said this is America that can't happen. Now that it is reality I say to those same people don't trip down DE NILE.

Just like the song said GET UP STAND UP.........STANDTHE FUCK UP.♾️🌏♾️😑

YOU, Dissent ARE BRAVE.

Shining a light on this should Be done by the Fourth estate and should have been done just as finally done for the Epstein Victims decades ago.

Nothing but respect BRAVE WARRIOR♾️🌏♾️

Maya J's avatar

Many people have predicted that one reason to scoop up so many people in the name of ‘arresting illegals’ is to provide cheap labour. Not only within the for-profit prisons, but also to be available for farms and businesses who need an endless supply of worker bees. It is all diabolical. We need to know these facts. Thank you. We need more exposure of these places. Light a fire under some MSM please!

VEE LAVALLEE's avatar

The fact is that nobody in power cares. They think anyone who isn't white and rich is subhuman! The evidence has been there since America's creation. Nothing's changed. The law is a joke, they've never protected peoples rights over a rich mans influence.

Leila ghandour-oder's avatar

Thought #1 "Jeez, this could happen here??" and, #2 "Sounds like some marriages i've seen."

Dee Ortega 🦋🌺🕊️'s avatar

Really excellent work!! One point that will be important to know is that both the government prisons and the for profit prisons will be “selling” the services of inmates for profits that will not be seen by the inmates. Farmers will be able to “hire” inmates to work their farms. Prisons already will let businesses hire inmates to work their stores or warehouses. Inmates see almost nothing of these wages. Once JDV and his buddies buy up all the farmland that small farmers will lose to bankruptcy, they will use these detainees and prisoners as their workers w/o providing them any safety or benefits.

Heather Elowe's avatar

Sadly I agree. Trump already let slip the 'farmers supervising detainee workers' scheme but he wasn't talking about small family farmers but the future Corporate farmers. These network states the TechBro elite want to rule (with the Heritage Taliban "ethics" oversight) sound more like socialism benefiting the wealthy every day. And kill off all but the worker bees.

James Vander Poel's avatar

I'll be sending your post to someone I know in the DOJ who works with folks who do the inspections of prisons and write the reports on what they find. With the recent change in leadership at Justice (the rise of Bondi) and the firing of all those Inspectors General (the one who didn't get fired, Michael Horowitz, was DOJ IG and is now IG for the Federal Reserve Board and CFPB) the oversight of prisons by the DOJ may be in jeopardy. Horowitz has been replaced by William Blier, his deputy, as acting IG. The worry is that Blier will be replaced by a puppet (because Bondi and Trump) and the calls for investigations into the upper level of the DOJ (Bondi, Patel) and Emil Bove will be quashed. Horowitz "will be sorely missed because he will be the last credible official source of factfinding at the Department of Justice."

KariCatmom's avatar

Breaks my heart that we are seen as less than humans.…slaves. Its hard being an indigenous latina in this country for so many reasons. I'm so scared. Thank you for spreading the word

Jesse's avatar

It is scary

I'm terrified

I STAND with you. IT brought me to tears.

KariCatmom's avatar

Thank you for your compassion and support 💙

DEBORAH BRADLEY's avatar

I totally agree this is INSANE, but how about we resolve the unconstitutionality of NO DUE PROCESS before they get stranded in these places, never to be seen again? I think it is MUCH greater importance to insist our Constitution gives all people in this country RIGHTS and every one deserves the opportunity to have their case heard before they are forced to do anything. If we're worried about humiliation, what does abduction by masked thugs do for their sense of justice and fairness? Aren't we getting a lot of carts BEFORE the horse?

Edwin Canizalez's avatar

Serious work on the perverse incentives behind private prison and the systematic human supply that has been rolled out. Keep up the good work.