America's Plantation Prisons

America's Plantation Prisons

www.globalresearch.ca

This scene is not a glimpse of plantation days long gone by. It's the present-day reality of thousands of prisoners at the maximum security Louisiana State Penitentiary, otherwise known as Angola. The block of land on which the prison sits is a composite of several slave plantations, bought up in the decades following the Civil War. Acre-wise, it is the largest prison in the United States. Eighty percent of its prisoners are African-American.

"Angola is disturbing every time I go there," Tory Pegram, who coordinates the International Coalition to Free the Angola 3, told Truthout. "It's not even really a metaphor for slavery. Slavery is what's going on."

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Is modern day slavery and racial hierchy still alive? It certainly appears to be under suspicion if any part of this story is true!

While I certainly won't scream about convicted felons having to do labor, this appears to go WAY over the top...Pretty disturbing if this type of stuff is occurring in modern times, right in the good ol' U.S. of A...

Much of this overt racism stems from the way the basic system - and even the basic population - of Angola and its environs have remained static since the days of slavery, according to Pegram. After the plantation was converted to a prison, former plantation overseers and their descendants kept their general roles, becoming prison officials and guards. This white overseer community, called B-Line, is located on the farm's grounds, both close to the prisoners and completely separate from them. In addition to their prison labor, Angola's inmates do free work for B-Line residents, from cutting their grass to trimming their hair to cleaning up Prison View Golf Course, the only course in the country where players can watch prisoners laboring as they golf.

www.globalresearch.ca
(visit the link for the full news article)

This story is very similar to those I saw in the sixties about "slavery" at the county homes.

I am old enough to remember when every county had a "county home" the homeless were taken to these farms and worked to feed themselves acording to their abilities.. Activists in the sixties had the farms abolished and people in mental institutions turn out. Now we have people living and dying on the street or young girls being paid by the US government to have babies.

My mother use to volunteer at the local home teaching art. I never saw any abuse and the people seemed happy and well cared for. They were certainly better off and safer than the people I saw living on the streets of Boston. Also we had a lot less crime back then. You never had to lock a door and if a poor family needed help the community would see to it they got that help. The local doctor could treat they free without paperwork or fear of the feds. Now those who try to help run afoul of the regs

Certainly if there is abuse it should be stopped. However I think prisoners should do labor. Pay the minimum wage and deduct the cost of running the prison. I imagine that was left out of this story. If you figure $5 dollars an hour and the typical net profit of 5% after expenses you get around $0.25 per hour. This would not include food and housing so the 0.02 to 0.05 is actually realistic. After all why should I have to pay for the prison through my taxes, I did not commit a crime. I have worked 50 to 70 hours a week most of my working life and only got paid for 40 so do not expect me to cry about that. I aalso worked many weekends without pay.

One question: Do these prisoners when released end up back in jail?

Somebody didnt read their 13th amendment to the US Constitution,

The 13th Amendment: "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."

reply to post by MikeboydUS




Your dead right. Most US citizens do not understand that all convicts are officially slaves. In no unclear terms, as written in the 13th amendment, they are slaves.

Just goes to show you how well versed the average US citizen is with their constitution.

I dont think prisoners work hard enough. I work 40-60 hours a week, go to school and still have to provide for my own basic needs. What reward? I get to come and go as I please. Of course, I am not a major felon or murderer.

Do the crime, pay the time. Prisoners are far to coddled in too many modern prisons. They should be farming, cleaning roadways, raising livestock, digging ditches, whatever sweat labor needs to be done in the city, county or state. Since all of their basic needs are taken care of for them, they need very little money.

Why should they rely so heavily on tax dollars, when they could be getting a measure of low level contracts that pay to offset expenses. They can raise their own food in many places.

The Dept of Corrections should get organized and they could help to share excesses. If prison A is in an area of lush farmland, let them focus on farming and share with prison B. Prison B might not be able to grow livestock or crops, so they should focus on doing contract work and share the income. To an extent, this would help the entire DoC system to offset the cost of running and reduce their dependancy on tax dollars.

I think more prisons should model after Sheriff Arpaio and truly transform the nations prison system into a place that people DO NOT want to get back to.

Most US citizens do not understand that all convicts are officially slaves.

Thankyou for pointing that out. Given all the US laws no adult can manage to obey them all. Great way to make the entire population slaves. I wonder when they will start enforcing them?

reply to post by wheresthetruth


I have a very simple solution: whatever crap jobs illegal immigrants do that supposedly no one else will do, we replace the illegals with prisoners.

This means the jobs are filled and there are no incentives for illegals to come work in the states. Very Simple.