Our Governemnt Owns Slaves? Corporations & Prison Labor: Starbucks, Walmart....

Many of you may know about this but i did not. There are many corporations such as starbucks and walmart that use prison labor at the rate of .20 cents/hr which is basically slave labor. This person goes on to state that one reason many corporations aren't worried about raising minimum wage is because they practically already have slave labor to package or produce their product.

He goes on to mention companies like victoria's secret and jc penny. this is worth the listen when you get time.

I just thought it was interesting and disturbing to see the relationship between the states and prison system.



Also here is a link to a great article about this subject and how it works.

In the eyes of the corporation, inmate labor is a brilliant strategy in the eternal quest to maximize profit. By dipping into the prison labor pool, companies have their pick of workers who are not only cheap but easily controlled. Companies are free to avoid providing benefits like health insurance or sick days, while simultaneously paying little to no wages. They don’t need to worry about unions or demands for vacation time or raises. Inmates work full-time and are never late or absent because of family problems.

The disturbing implications of such a system mean that skyrocketing imprisonment for the possession of miniscule amounts of marijuana and the the expansion of severe mandatory sentencing laws regardless of the conviction, are policies that have the potential to increase corporate profits. As are the“three strikes laws” that require courts to hand down mandatory and extended sentences to people who have been convicted of felonies on three or more separate occasions. People have literally been sentenced to life for minor crimes like shoplifting .

Opinons and thoughts welcome. This is not new but it's worth a discussion i think.

I once worked for a federal contractor, and my new-hire group was told at orientation that we were the property of the corporation. When questioned, the spokesperson quickly backpedaled, but still, the admission was out there...

The corporations will not be satisfied until we are all slave labor, but who will then buy the products? In the end, it's self-defeating if profit were the only goal. No, it goes far deeper than profit.

reply to post by solongandgoodnight
We're all slaves, but its worse than the OP, its called DEBT slavery.

The politicians in DC will keep borrowing and spending. We are then forced to repay their debt for generations to come.

As it is now, we spend almost a third of the year working just to pay our income tax burden.

And here's the kicker, a debt based monetary system can never be repaid because the interest is never introduced into the money supply...

But the "Federal Reserve" is well aware of this fact.

Prisoners cost money, besides free food and bed. Good salary and benefits on top of that?

reply to post by solongandgoodnight

There are many corporations such as starbucks and walmart that use prison labor at the rate of .20 cents/hr which is basically slave labor.

Don't give a hoot. They shouldn't be criminals, and we have to recoup the cash we spend on dealing with their crimes and keeping them incarcerated.

Boo hoo.

Originally posted by Antigod
reply to post by solongandgoodnight

 

There are many corporations such as starbucks and walmart that use prison labor at the rate of .20 cents/hr which is basically slave labor.

Don't give a hoot. They shouldn't be criminals, and we have to recoup the cash we spend on dealing with their crimes and keeping them incarcerated.

Boo hoo.

i think you're missing the point. it is profitable for corporations to keep people locked up on things like drug use because corporations get big profit margins from it, while tax payers float the bill. just think about it.

reply to post by Trueman
yes we float the bill and the corporations get huge profit margins for free labor. do you not see the problem here?

Originally posted by solongandgoodnight
reply to post by Trueman

 

yes we float the bill and the corporations get huge profit margins for free labor. do you not see the problem here?

I saw 2 problems, you saw just one.

reply to post by Trueman


........i'm a little slow, i don't follow what you're trying to say.

reply to post by Antigod


And everyday the States are finding ways to make more and more people criminals with a mandatory sentence. One day you may just find yourself on the wrong side of that line.

Originally posted by solongandgoodnight
reply to post by Trueman

 

........i'm a little slow, i don't follow what you're trying to say.

Sorry for making you wait, I was working. The first problem was exposed by you clearly.

This is the other problem :

Staff from Vera’s Center on Sentencing and Corrections and Cost-Benefit Analysis Unit developed a methodology to calculate the taxpayer cost of prisons, including costs outside states’ corrections budgets. Among the 40 states that participated in a survey, the cost of prisons was $39 billion in fiscal year 2010, $5.4 billion more than what their corrections budgets reflected.

So, giving them a good salary is crazy. Think about all the unemployed americans we have now first, they don't have free food and bed.

"The United States has about 5 percent of the world's population, but we have 25 percent of the world's prisoners - we incarcerate a greater percentage of our population than any country on Earth," said Michael Jacobson, director of the non-partisan Vera Institute of Justice. He also ran New York City's jail and probation systems in the 1990s.


A report by the organization, "The Price of Prisons," states that the cost of incarcerating one inmate in Fiscal 2010 was $31,307 per year. "In states like Connecticut, Washington state, New York, it's anywhere from $50,000 to $60,000," he said.


Yes - $60,000 a year. That's a teacher's salary, or a firefighter's. Our epidemic of incarceration costs us taxpayers $63.4 billion a year.

Wanna give them a 401k too?.....that would be "The cherry on top".

www.vera.org...
www.cbsnews.com...

reply to post by Trueman


Yes that is a big problem for sure, which ties back in to corporations supporting drug laws. It keeps plenty of free workers for them paid for by tax payers. The war on drugs is strictly about money.

reply to post by solongandgoodnight

i think you're missing the point. it is profitable for corporations to keep people locked up on things like drug use because corporations get big profit margins from it, while tax payers float the bill. just think about it.

I'm so NOT missing the point.

People were being locked up for drugs offenses decades before these companies used their labour. How you can claim their incarceration is due to big corporations bemuses me.

Decades ago, they used to work on road gangs. Also, masses of them NOT in for drugs offenses but things like assault, rape, homicide etc. And just because they get a tiny amount per hour , it doesn't mean that is what those companies are paying the state for their work.

Boo effing hoo.

reply to post by solongandgoodnight

Yes that is a big problem for sure, which ties back in to corporations supporting drug laws. It keeps plenty of free workers for them paid for by tax payers. The war on drugs is strictly about money.

To reiterate...

People were being locked up for drugs offenses DECADES before these modern corporations started using prison labour. Also, you seem to believe that all prisoners are in for drugs offenses. Hello? America, homicide capital of the Western world.

If you wanted to bang on about the tobacco and alcohol industry being behind govt drugs policies you'd have a valid point, as they'd lose market share and therefore money if others were legal. But as someone has pointed out, it really costs to keep someone in prison, and the fewer people in there draining cash resources the happier the state would be. If you think any corporation could persuade the state to spend 30k plus to provide low quality labour from one person, ... well it's not logical. They'd try to get the cash as tax incentives. much easier.

And everyday the States are finding ways to make more and more people criminals with a mandatory sentence. One day you may just find yourself on the wrong side of that line.

reply to post by KeliOnyx



Unlikely, I live in the UK.

To quote Richard Pryor, 'Thank god for penitentiaries'. He spent a few weeks in one for research, and he used to think how the people in there were all terrible victims. By the time he left, he said he was going to buy a gun in case he met any of them.

Where are you getting the idea that huge numbers of people are in prison for dissing the state?

Originally posted by Trueman
Prisoners cost money, besides free food and bed. Good salary and benefits on top of that?

More reason for corporations to pay them a proper wage IMO.

Pay inmates' wages into a prison account, then the cost of their incarceration can be decucted from pay before they receive it. No more burden to the taxpayers.

Could something like this work?

reply to post by Antigod


either you're blind to the truth or you're spewing bull crap on purpose. most of the people that are in prison are there due to drugs. i'm done with the conversation. you are not here to reason.

either you're blind to the truth or you're spewing bull crap on purpose. most of the people that are in prison are there due to drugs. i'm done with the conversation. you are not here to reason.

reply to post by solongandgoodnight


I guess a reasoned, rational argument threatens you to the point of stomping of in a huff and yelling 'I'm done'.

The stats are that currently about 48% are in for drugs offenses. the majority group, not a majority. Of them, only about half are in for non violent offenses. I know my figures. I make a point of knowing what I'm typing about in order not to make an ass of myself by claiming most US prisoners are in on just drugs charges. I don't think 25% qualifies as 'most'.

Like I said, people were being incarcerated for drugs crimes long before they were employed as telesales etc.