According to Clay:
“[The resolution would] eliminate the dehumanizing and discriminatory forced labor of prisoners for profit that has been used to drive the over-incarceration of African Americans since the end of the Civil War.”
Currently ‘convict leasing’ is a $2 billion industry. Although most inmates work voluntarily, there are still facilities in the United States where hard labor is enforced.
“Incarcerated people assigned to work for state-owned businesses earn between 33 cents and $1.41 per hour on average – roughly twice as much as people assigned to regular prison jobs.” – PrisonPolicy.org
Also, almost all of the workers are without proper legal employee protection and benefits that other Americans are entitled to. Nor do they receive any type of credible certification or degrees for the new skill trades learned. Definitely modern day slavery.
“Your freedom has been taken away — that’s the punishment that society has assigned,” constitutional law professor Michele Goodwin, said. “The punishment is not that you do slave work, that is unpaid labor or barely paid labor.”
Join me as I dive into criminal justice reform this coming year. I am eager to help identify some of the significant injustices plaguing our criminal justice system.
