Bernie calls for ending exploitation of the prison labor

[azmom]

It is morally repugnant and a national tragedy that we have privatized prisons all over America. In my view, corporations should not be allowed to make a profit by building more jails and keeping more Americans behind bars. We have got to end the private-for-profit prison racket



http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/16/1412460/-Bernie-Sanders-calls-for-ending-the-Exploitation-of-the-P

[Maedhros]

1. Hillary calls for campaign contributions from those who exploit prison labor...[n/t]

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

4. Hush now.

Can't talk about such thing...

[Fred Sanders]

28. Link? What calls? This is serious breaking news begging for money directly from exploiters! Huge!!

[rhett o rick]

48. I think they were joking. H. Clinton hasn't committed herself on any issue. She

is hoping no one will notice and she can slide into the nomination without committing herself on anything.

Where Sanders says that college should be free for those that qualify, Clinton went out on a limb and said that "no one should have to go in debt for college." The "no one should" actually applies to a fracking whole lot of stuff. But what would she do? Nothing.

[billhicks76]

56. Old News...She Takes $$ From Private Prison Corporations

And some genius, immoral Clinton supporters actually defended this here. Can you believe it? Do rationalizations know any bounds? They said politicians take money from anywhere needed so it doesn't matter. Everyone does it. These people belong in the Republican Party.

[Fred Sanders]

57. There truly is no end to the simple minded ignorance, I hear you on that!

[Qutzupalotl]

2. It also distorts the labor market

when Prison Inc. can get labor done for pennies an hour.

[winterwar]

11. Yes

Great point

[proverbialwisdom]

31. Google: whole foods cheese prisons (nt)

[azmom]

32. WOW. I didn't know about that.

It goes against everything they pretend to stand for.

[Demeter]

36. Just like China!

Who says globalism is a bad thing?

[Bay Boy]

3. FWIW the prisoners appreciate the work

Even if the pay is peanuts it's appreciated because it breaks up the monotony.

[tazkcmo]

5. Right.

This reminds me of the "AA's were happier being slaves" line from Clive Bundy. It is not appreciated when you get "paid" pennies per hour.

[Cleita]

8. Then they need to be paid what non-prisoners would be paid.

Maybe some of it should go to pay for their food and "lodging" but prisoners have families too and the money should go to them if not the prisoner directly.

[panader0]

18. This is the right answer.

Bay Boy is right from what I know. Most of the guys are thrilled to get out and work. It's a lot better than sitting in the can.
But they should get minimum wage instead of the 2 bucks an hour they receive. Private, for profit prisons are wrong.

[TheFarS1de]

9. ROFL

Seriously , I bet they are just SOOO grateful . Your after a different site , this is a democratic one .

[panader0]

19. You ever been in jail? Prison?

[lonestarnot]

25. I think that you may be confused.

[Ed Suspicious]

12. Yes, when the choice is between a meaningless existence

in a box with a couple thousand of your most violent and often mentally unstable friends or a job that is endorsed by the government gor the oversrching purpose of exploiting the massive surplus value of your labor, most people will seek relief in prison labor. Seems like not a choice at all.

[cannabis_flower]

21. Then ...

They should be given jobs within the prison that only benefits the prison or the state. Vegetable gardening and raising livestock, laundry, sweeping and mopping, making licence plates, etc.

[sorefeet]

40. That is how Montana State Prison

use to work. At one time is was self supporting with a huge farming operation. Product to sell and the prisoners at very good with fresh food from big gardens and lots of beef from the cattle operation. But eventually Republican Governors changed all that. Mostly private run now.

[Fearless]

26. I'm sure they'd appreciate getting paid for it as well

Particularly if it means that they can help their families, or say pay child support, or survive until they have a job once getting out.

Or am I wrong?

[Zorra]

42. How do you know that this is true? nt

[Cleita]

6. I agree 100%. I'd like to see those jobs go to non-prisoners who are paid a decent wage.

As far as I'm concerned prison labor should be last resort if there is a shortage of workers and they should be paid what regular workers get paid, maybe not directly but to their families. Using prison labor is a form of slavery and welfare for the companies who use them.

[ananda]

7. Yes!

Right on!

[Uncle Joe]

10. From slavery to Jim Crow to for profit prisons, we've come a long way baby.

Thanks for the thread, azmom.

[mahannah]

13. Amendment XIII Section 1. ...except

Amendment XIII

Section 1.

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

[Feeling the Bern]

15. Same document that made black people 3/5 of a person

I wish to buy a felon and keep them enslaved as property please. I can keep the felon in line. I've got all sorts of things to make sure the felon "knows their place."

We've removed all their civil rights anyway since they were convicted, why not remove their humanity completely?

What has my country become? I don't even recoginize it anymore.

[Uncle Joe]

16. Shocking Facts About America's For-Profit Prison Industry

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/21694-shocking-facts-about-americas-for-profit-prison-industry

As long as their have been human societies, there have been criminals. Despite the best efforts of lawmakers and religions, humans can’t be trusted to do the right thing, even when we’re aware of the consequences. The prison system used to be a last resort, a place you sent people when other forms of punishment were ineffective. Now it’s grown into something much darker, and even less rehabilitative.

Unbeknownst to many, the prison system has become a for-profit business in which inmates are the product–a system that has shocking similarities to another human-based business from America’s past: slavery.

In late 2013, a new report from In the Public Interest (ITPI) revealed that private prison companies are striking deals with states that contain clauses guaranteeing high prison occupancy rates–sometimes 100 percent. This means that states agree to supply prison corporations with a steady flow of residents–whether or not that level of criminal activity exists. Some experts believe this relationship between government and private prison corporations encourages law enforcement agencies to use underhanded tactics–often targeting minority and underserved groups–to fill cells.

“The report, ‘Criminal: How Lockup Quotas and ‘Low-Crime Taxes’ Guarantee Profits for Private Prison Corporations,’ documents the contracts exchanged between private prison companies and state and local governments that either guarantee prison occupancy rates (essentially creating inmate lockup quotas) or force taxpayers to pay for empty beds if the prison population decreases due to lower crime rates or other factors (essentially creating low-crime taxes),” reports Salon.

As a result, there are now over 2 million people living behind bars in the United States. That’s half a million more than China, which has a population five times greater than the U.S. Many are incarcerated for non-violent crimes, like the use or possession of marijuana, and other problems that would be far better served through a rehabilitation or education program.

(snip)

There is more on the link.

[Historic NY]

14. He should looked to stop it in his own state ...

or is he just giving lip service. Its not like Vermont is some huge state.

Vermont, the most progressive state in America, spent over $14 million last year to lock up Vermonters in for profit prison like Lee Adjustment Center, located in Kentucky’s Daniel Boone National Forest. Private prisons like Correctional Corporation of America (CCA)'s Lee Adjustment Center offer no mental health, educational or rehabilitational services, but they do post massive corporate profits; CCA posted $1.7 billion in 2011 revenue alone.

http://vermontprisonwatch.blogspot.com/

Vermont is one of only four states that sends some of its prisoners to out-of-state, privately run jails, a practice sharply criticized in a new study.

“The interstate transfer of prisoners is a costly band-aid, not a root cause solution, to the problem of prison overcrowding and our nation’s mass imprisonment crisis,” the study by the Austin, Texas-based Grassroots Leadership group concluded. “On the contrary, it perpetuates our broken justice system.”

The study, released Wednesday, stated that moving prisoners to out-of-state facilities cuts them off from regular contact with family and friends, which can harden their attitudes and jeopardize their chances of staying crime-free once they finish serving their sentences.

“You’re taking people who, whatever support network they may have, is gone,” a Vermont inmate transferred to a private prison in Kentucky was quoted in the report as saying. “You’re alone. You’re isolated.” The inmate, at his request, was not identified by name.

http://archive.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20131120/NEWS03/311200029/Study-criticizes-Vermont-for-private-prison-use

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - The company that operates a private prison in Michigan where Vermont recently moved 280 of its inmates is defending its operation in the face of inmate complaints.

GEO Group Inc. spokesman Pablo Paez tells The Associated Press in an email that the company's North Lake Correctional Facility in Baldwin, Michigan, adheres to standards set by the American Correctional Association and to strict requirements in its contract with the Vermont Department of Corrections.

http://www.wcax.com/story/29679312/private-prison-firm-responds-to-vt-inmate-complaints

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/08/08/vermont-probes-its-inmate-death-in-private-kentucky-prison-police-werent-told/

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Vermont Legislature is investigating the death of a Vermont inmate who was beaten at a private prison in Kentucky and died six weeks later.

The cause of his death remains unclear.

An autopsy completed last month revealed 66-year-old sex offender James Nicholson died of a combination of heart disease and diabetes. But the autopsy lists his manner of death as undetermined because the medical examiner could not determine whether the assault played a part.

Nicholson's skull was fractured in the April attack and his brain bruised. He died May 18.

[Uncle Joe]

17. Bernie has been speaking out against mass incarceration at least since 1991 and he was never

Governor of the state of Vermont.

[Historic NY]

20. Whats being Gov. got to do with it.....

doesn't he represent the state?

[cannabis_flower]

23. Yes, but..

he represents the state in the US Senate. Not much he can do about prison practices in the state government.

[A Simple Game]

29. Yes he represents the state, but he has no vote in internal affairs of the state.

But you already know that, don't you?

You may now start looking for a different straw.

[Historic NY]

46. Except that Vermont gets Federal Money for prison beds while housing in the other states....

its inmates in private prisons.

Federal beds to keep more Vermont prisoners in Kentucky.

A deal in the works to house more federal inmates in Vermont prisons will hamper the state’s effort to reduce the number of local prisoners incarcerated in Kentucky and Arizona, the corrections commissioner said Monday.

Vermont contracts with the U.S. Marshals Service to house up to 40 federal prisoners in Vermont prisons. The feds pay the state $129 per prisoner per day.

This year the Marshals’ office asked to increase that number of beds to 85, said Corrections Commissioner Andy Pallito. The DOC negotiated that number down to 60, Pallito said.

The deal will be good for the state’s pocketbook, but bad for the DOC’s goal of reducing the number of prisoners it houses with private prison contractor Corrections Corporation of America.

http://vtdigger.org/2015/01/19/federal-beds-keep-vt-prisoners-ky/

I'm certain Mr. Sanders would know this since its Federal Money that comes into the state and is approved in DC.

[rhett o rick]

49. Thanks for the info. What's your point in posting it? nm

[Historic NY]

53. Vermonts prisoners are being held in a "private prison".

thousands of miles from home.

[rhett o rick]

55. That's terrible. Sorry if I am dense, but I don't get what you are insinuating. nm

[George II]

39. Yeah, he "has been speaking out against mass incarceration since 1991" yet......

....he voted for mass incarceration in 1994, just three years later.

He was against it, until he was for it, until he was against it.

[Uncle Joe]

43. And yet as we discussed on this previous thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=1179757

As I said he tried to talk them out of it, the crime bill did have one redeeming portion which the

Republicans didn't want but Sanders supported, the Violence Against Women Act.

This also occurred after Waco in 1993.

to which you never replied but cosmicone did and to which I answered with this.

As I said he tried to talk them out of it but they; ie President Clinton and the Congress

didn't listen.


http://www.usprisonculture.com/blog/2012/04/24/bill-clinton-was-incredibly-destructive-for-black-people/

There are so many ways that the Clinton Presidency was toxic to black people in particular and people of color in general. I will periodically highlight some of his greatest hits against black people in the coming weeks. Today I want to focus on one piece of legislation that the U.S. Congress passed in 1994 which is still reverberating in 2012. The 1994 Omnibus Crime Bill (spearheaded by Joe Biden and Bill Clinton) cost $30 billion dollars and helped to accelerate the growth of the prison industrial complex in ways that we are only just beginning to understand. The bill’s provisions included:

to which neither one of you replied.

[George II]

44. The discussion was going around in a circle, as I suspect this is going to as well.

If he was truly the principled person that many claim he is, he would have voted against it (especially since it passed by 40 votes anyway)

[Uncle Joe]

45. Then you be would be accusing him of hating women for being against the Violence Against Women Act.

"Bernie must hate women because he voted against it."

Bernie's words and the deaf ears they fell on in regards to mass incarceration are a testament to both his beliefs and those of the Administrations and Congresses that never listened.

[4lbs]

22. Unfortunately, it's not as easy. Private prisons have their hands involved all over the political

spectrum, yes even including the far left progressive liberals.

Also, anyone that has a 401k or is a public employee with a pension plan (i.e. school teacher) likely has funds invested in private prisons.

http://www.vice.com/read/whos-getting-rich-off-the-prison-industrial-complex


Matt Sirovich and Jeremy Mindich both donate to Democratic politicians and are involved with progressive-leaning organizations like Root Capital, a nonprofit lending company that offers loans to farmers in developing countries to alleviate poverty.

....

I called them up to ask their thoughts about being politically liberal but heavily invested in private prisons, but Mindich refused to answer any questions and Sirovich was unavailable.

....

Retired People and Probably You

The Vanguard Group and Fidelity Investments are America’s top two 401(k) providers. They are also two of the private prison industry’s biggest investors.

Together, they own about 20 percent of both CCA and GEO. That means if you have a 401(k) plan, there’s a good chance you benefit financially from private prisons. And even if you don’t, there are many more mutual funds, brokerage firms, and banks that invest in private prisons—it being a growth industry and all—so if you have money somewhere other than your wallet or your mattress, it’s a good bet you’re involved in some way with companies that are locking up and probably abusing inmates.

This is especially true for government employees like public school teachers because their retirement funds are some of the biggest investors in private prisons. According to NASDAQ data, the retirement funds for public employees and teachers in New York and California together have about $60 million ($30 million each) invested in CCA and GEO. Teacher retirement funds in Texas and Kentucky have $8.3 million and $4 million invested in prisons respectively, and public employees in Florida ($10.3 million), Ohio ($8.6 million), Texas ($5.6 million), Arizona ($5.3 million), and Colorado ($2.25 million) are also connected to the industry. Except for New York, which has only one privately run detention facility, each of these states has several prisons run by CCA and GEO Group facilities. And it’s not just Americans who have ties to prisons. Foreign investors have money in them as well, including the pension fund for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which recently sold off its $5.1 million worth of GEO Group stock.

Most of these employees are probably unaware that their pensions are tied to prisons—and it’s hard to say that these are “bad” investments from a purely capitalistic perspective, since these prisons are making money hand over fist.

[azmom]

24. Wow, they are making money hand

Over fist on the suffering of your fellow man, and all you can say is that from a capitalistic perspective they are not bad. That tells me a lot about you.

[lonestarnot]

27. Maybe he/she isn't a capitalist?

[4lbs]

37. Where did I say they weren't bad? I said that private prisons have their hands in everything now.

We definitely need to get rid of for-profit prisons, however, they do have invested in a lot of political influence. Both on the right and the left, and even people who consider themselves liberals probably don't realize that some of their investments are going to private prisons.

[azmom]

41. I misunderstood. Thank you for your clarification. N/T

[proverbialwisdom]

30. Thank you for the information. (nt)

[Phlem]

33. You mean no slave labor?

Why, that's Un American!

[procon]

34. Local news had a story on thousands of prison inmates fighting Calif wildfires.

The state gives them the same training as other fire crews and they get some sort of quid pro quo sentence reduction to work under the most extremely hazardous conditions at great physical risk... for $1.30 a day. I was shocked.

[Demeter]

35. Hear, Hear!

It's a crime and it's slavery....

[George II]

38. The crime bill enabling what he's speaking out against was passed back in 1994, 21 years ago.

He voted for it. Now he's running for President and he wants to change it. What has he been doing about this for the last 21 years?

[MaggieD]

47. As does every Dem candidate

... That has a farmers chance in hell of winning. I'm grateful BLM forced Bernie to broaden his talking points. Hats off to BLM.

[Recursion]

50. We have very few private prisons in the US

And nearly all of them are Federal, which is a very small prison population to begin with.

Unfortunately, the exploitation of prison labor is mostly by public, state-run prisons.

[Scuba]

51. Your source seems to be flawed. Hemorrhoids?

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-prison-industry-in-the-united-states-big-business-or-a-new-form-of-slavery/8289

Ten years ago there were only five private prisons in the country, with a population of 2,000 inmates; now, there are 100, with 62,000 inmates. It is expected that by the coming decade, the number will hit 360,000, according to reports.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_prison

Broken down to prison type, 19.1% of the federal prison population in the United States is housed in private prisons and 6.8% of the U.S. state prison population is housed in private prisons

[Babel_17]

52. We need a real economy again, in order for alternative sentencing to work

It's all connected.

[WillyT]

54. HUGE K & R !!! - THANK YOU !!!

[Zorra]

58. Ugh. Private Prison Empire Rises Despite Startling Record Of Juvenile Abuse

http://projects.huffingtonpost.com/prisoners-of-profit

Questions About Race, Profit Surround Private Youth Prisons
snip---
At the same time, the use of private prisons in the American penal system has spiked. The “tough on crime” stance of the 1990s contributed to a 430 percent expansion of the general prison population from 1979 to 2009, according to Human Rights Watch.

More than 50 percent of all youth correctional facilities are run by private operators, prompting concerns about the level of care that such a large segment of the youth population is receiving. In the last couple of years, reports of gross misconduct and abuse among private operators of juvenile detention centers have led many to reconsider the wisdom of sending juvenile offenders to private prisons.

***Look, this right here!: ----->Many believe that the for-profit prison industry’s resurgence in recent years reflects increased lobbying efforts and a focus on providing housing services for immigration detainees. Some have argued that the private prison system has “gamed the system” through its lobbying and campaign donations toward improving its bottom-line.
snip---
Among all juveniles sentenced to life without parole, for every one white life detainee, there are 10 black prisoners.
http://www.mintpressnews.com/questions-race-profit-surround-private-youth-prisons/195619/

Pennsylvania rocked by 'jailing kids for cash' scandal
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/23/pennsylvania.corrupt.judges/

Perhaps the Saddest Profit Motive Ever
https://www.aclu.org/blog/perhaps-saddest-profit-motive-ever

Pa. Judge Sold Teens to Prison for $Millions in Kickbacks

In the private prison industry, prisoners mean profits. The longer the sentence, the more money the prison makes.

http://preservefreedom.org/pennsylvania-judge-sold-teens-to-prison/

Latino Group Demands Hillary Clinton and DNC Cut Ties with Private Prison Industry
New Campaign from Presente Action Pushes Clinton to Stop Accepting Money from Private Prisons

http://presente.org/press/releases/2015/8/17/latino-group-demands-hillary-cut-ties-private-pris