Welcome back to serfdom

[solarbird]

Colorado is going to replace illegal-immigrant workers with labour that's paid even less, which is to say, prisoners paid a token wage pulled out of our world-class prison population (per capita), which is to say, indentured servants, driving what's left of the farmer-labourer class completely out of existence. I cannot overstate the depths of my disgust at this quasifascist bullshit the Democratic-led legislature of Colorado has served up.

The first reference below is to the New York Times version of the story, which I saw first, but has moved behind a firewall. The second is the Los Angeles Times version of the same story, which is at least similar, and is publicly accessible. The third is an update from April 12th. The first 60c/day - sixty cents per day, or seven and a half cents per hour - prisoner workers are expected to be on farms in May. Yes, the farmers are paying more than that - for the moment - with proceeds going to, of course, the prison system. But it's difficult to imagine how free workers - and by free workers, I mean not prisoners - will compete.

I was going to post about this a month ago but couldn't get past "This is serfdom," so I let it sit for a while to see if I could. I still can't, which, really, makes it worse, not better. This is the kind of shit that validates Marx.

I imagine the communists reading about this will be thrilled.


----- 1 -----
Inmates Will Replace Migrants in Colorado Fields
By DAN FROSCH
Published: March 4, 2007
The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/us/04prisoners.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

DENVER, March 3 — As migrant laborers flee Colorado because of tough new immigration restrictions, worried farmers are looking to prisoners to fill their places in the fields.

[...]

Under the program, which has drawn criticism from groups concerned about immigrants’ rights and from others seeking changes in the criminal justice system, farmers will pay a fee to the state, and the inmates, who volunteer for the work, will be paid about 60 cents a day, corrections officials said.

[More behind TimesSelect wall]


----- 2 -----
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
Los Angeles Times
March 1, 2007

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-inmates1mar01,0,7469220.story?coll=la-home-headlines

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.

[...]

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.

[More at URL]


----- 3 -----
Fielding convicts
Is Pueblo County's new prisoner labor program a solution to farmers' staffing woes or a shortsighted mistake?
by Naomi Zeveloff
iNews
April 12, 2007

http://www.csindy.com/csindy/2007-04-12/news3.html

U.S. Highway 50 narrows a dozen miles east of Pueblo, yielding to pea-green and brown farmland, family-owned tracts that bear southern Colorado's peppers, tomatoes, melons and sweet corn.

[...]

The prisoners will earn 60 cents a day, with the possibility of making an extra $30 to $60 a month. The farmers will pay the Department of Corrections $9.65 per prisoner, per hour — at least a dollar more than they typically have paid migrant workers.

DOC says the revenue will go toward transportation, food and staffing costs. But some find the discrepancy troubling, and claim the program is a moneymaker for the department.

[...]

For now, the prisoner plan — however patchwork it may be — is moving ahead. And [early programme participant and farm owner Phil] Prutch looks forward to replenishing his labor pool.

[Ed. note: braketed inline data added by me for clarity]

[More at URL]

Comments

[banner.livejournal.com]

The question is, are they going to be compelled to work, or is it voluntary?

[loopback.livejournal.com]

yes, _that_ is the question ...

[avram]

That's a question. The answer, according to the NY Times story, as quoted above, is that the inmates volunteer for the work. Of course, in a prison, the management has a lot of leverage to make an inmate's life miserable if he doesn't "volunteer".

Another question: If the prison system becomes a profit center for the state, what sort of incentives does that place upon the state's administration of the justice system?

[epawtows.livejournal.com]

I have a hard time believing that this could make a prison come close to turning a profit, there just isn't that much value-adding involved.

[darkphoenixrisn.livejournal.com]

Words fail me at the moment.

[solarbird]

Words failed me for six weeks.

[spazzkat.livejournal.com]

FAILURE OF WORDAGE!!!

[ysabel.livejournal.com]

 

[aikigreg.livejournal.com]

Ehhh, I think it's a great idea. Currently we pay way too much in taxes so these guy can sit around and learn how to be better criminals for 3-5 years and have no skill when they come out of prison. If instead we have them learning farming and construction, or roadwork, or something valuable they can be skilled labor when they get out of prison and actually have a chance in society.

Farmers are so overburndened as it is. If the farmer paid the wage - regardless of how minimal - as well and food for the workers and costs of transportation to and from the prison, and got to keep all profits, than our Farmers benefit and there is no vested state's interest other than helping its hard-working law-abiding citizens.

Great idea, IMO.

[solarbird]

And the, you know, non-serf workers who are also its "hard-working law-abiding citzens" can presumably go suck it. I have this crazy idea that the state creating 7.5c/hour prisoner "labour" classes to destroy a job market for actual free workers is kind of, you know, anti-free-market in a distinctly fascist way.

I mean, was it only a decade ago that American political parties were roundly condemning mainland China for using prisoner labour for export goods? They were paid similar wages.

So. Let's say this stands up and catches on. How many serf worker/prisoner classes would need to be created via imprisonment and 7.5c/hour labour gangs before it would start to bother you? I'm not talking about for state jobs, I'm talking about for free market jobs like these.

[aikigreg.livejournal.com]

Well, we're talking about replacing ILLEGALS, for one thing. They ain't exactly getting paid a living wage either, you know. This would be a great step towards fixing that particular problem as well. Prisons are overcrowded and recidivism is ridiculous. Criminals come out worse than they went in. Your non-solution continues that injustice, which is my mind is far more dangerous.

Work that guy who is serving 10 years for raping someone's loved one. Make em build roads for two years, farm for three, frame houses for five. Whatever it takes. Make that prisoner's wage enough to get them through a few months once they get out of jail so that they can find work, and at the same time they have a marketable skill and can make an honest living. They'll have healthcare at least, which the illegals doing these jobs now do not. We'll decrease illegal immigration and actually get something back for our tax dollars who feed these thugs.

And with 1 out of every 6 factory jobs gone since 2001, that job market is already toast. Giving someone who wants to turn a new leaf the potential skill to do so is well worth the money lost to an illegal, IMO>

[mojave-wolf.livejournal.com]

From most of what I've read, undocumented immigrants are, while not getting what most in this country would consider an adequate living wage (tho some do even that), at least getting around 8 bucks an hour and up. So, while they are certainly being exploited, it's a far cry from pennies an hour. And the farmers aren't even going to save money from this? Instead they get to employ potentially dangerous people (your rapist example) who probably aren't going to be working that hard, instead of people who almost universally get good reviews for honesty, hard work and competence?

I don't see who this benefits in the short term (unless the prison system will be making a bit, which is a scary thought for reasons I'll get to, and I suppose it makes people who simply hate undocumented immigrants feel better), but in the long term, it could be the start of a trend (along with some previous telemarketing efforts) to use enforced labor to replace unskilled jobs throughout the country. Oh yay!

And not everyone in prison is in there for a good reason (the rapists you mention, while I *wish* they were usually doing ten years or more, are usually out in a couple of months if they get convicted at all); having a new slave labor pool would give great incentive to start arresting more people and giving them longer sentences for, say, marijuana use . . .

As for learning a skill . . . these jobs are called "unskilled"; saying "I picked fields while in jail" is only going to be a good calling card for the very jobs that the inmate labor will be taking away.

[aikigreg.livejournal.com]

Agree with some of what you said, but let me close my thoughts by saying that picking veggies may not be a skill, but construction and maintenance, etc are great skills. Prison population is a pretty big issue in our country. I say we teach em all how to grow medicinal marijuana. Put those skills to work! :)

Oh, and illegals don't make anywhere close to that kind of money. Many of the students I teach are illegal, honestly. The parents are pretty open with me as a Spanish teacher, and since I speak the language. What they go through is not good, and the amount of their children who end up in gangs is staggering. I teach a lot of gang members too, since the demographics overlap a lot.

We have lots of possibilities. Take that extra money and reform and counsel criminals. There are so many ways to make someone productive. Why let them rot in jail. Of course, if we made a non-victim crimes legal, that in itself may fix the problem. Who can say?

[mojave-wolf.livejournal.com]

*Totally* agree w/you about decriminalizing victimless/consensual crimes; that would be one of the *first* things we should do (if the public will was there, which alas I fear it ain't even close) to start un-bankrupting ourselves, even aside from the personal liberties issue (which to me is paramount in this instance).

My take on what to do w/prison populations is fairly complicated. In a nutshell, people should not be in there in the first place for drugs/prostitution/etc, but regardless of whether anything is done to change this, all the non-violent criminals should be kept segregated from the violent ones, and amongst the violent, those w/less time to go should be kept separate from those w/lots of time remaining, and those never to get out again further segregated. Likewise, for those in each of these blocs who behave themselves reasonably well, yes to helping them learn useful skills, if they are gonna get out again (tho I'm a firm believer in retribution as being an important part of the justice system, and I have nothing at all against letting some of them sit there and rot). In somewhat more detail, those prison gaurds I have spoken to agree w/me about this(tho has been since the 90's).

And lots of illegals get very good wages; some day laborers in better parts of LA won't work for less than $10 or even $15 an hour; many construction firms actually prefer to hire illegals because they've found them to be better workers, but still pay them the same (very good) wages as legal workers get, etc. I'm sure some are working for as little as $5 an hour, maybe less in cheaper parts of the country, but those I have known and occasionally worked with out here aren't doing that badly.

I think the gang membership issue may (I'm taking a wild guess here, correct me if I'm way off) be in large part due to lack of other opportunities for children who weren't born here, since even those who qualify for college scholarships and have been here since elementary school technically are illegal themselves, and generally face all sorts of (frequently insurmountable) hurdles to having a really good career, and I don't doubt they are aware of this, which will keep a lot from even trying the more conventional/safer route.

[solarbird]

Well, we're talking about replacing ILLEGALS, for one thing.
In order of succession, perhaps. But who would be taking those jobs were there not 7.5c/hour prison serfs taking them? Perhaps wages would need to increase. That's too bad; it's called the market.

Work that guy who is serving 10 years for raping someone's loved one.
That's a weird way of putting it. Why not "for raping someone"?

I do not have a particular issue with prisoners being at work. I have a severe issue with prisoner labour being used as both a profit centre and a tool to artificially keep wages low and removed from free workers.

And with 1 out of every 6 factory jobs gone since 2001, that job market is already toast.
And why would you prefer to make it worse?

[mojave-wolf.livejournal.com]

Work that guy who is serving 10 years for raping someone's loved one.
That's a weird way of putting it. Why not "for raping someone"?

I forgot to comment on that yesterday, for which I now feel evil. Reminded me of someone talking about how we needed to take it seriously when prostitutes were murdered because they were someone's daughter, or something like that. This wasn't nearly that awful, but does suggest a really awful way the culture has trained people to look at things. And "yes" to the rest of your post.