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>It’s like the closest thing to slavery It is not just like slavery, it _is_ slavery. The 13th amendment explicitly and intentionally allows slavery as a form

>It’s like the closest thing to slavery It is not just like slavery, it _is_ slavery. The 13th amendment explicitly and intentionally allows slavery as a form of punishment. And at the end of the Civil War, southern states capitalized on this and passed broad laws like the vagrancy act that re-enslaved the recently freed. For example, looking for separated family became criminal vagrancy. The curiously profitable idea that forced labor is somehow morally beneficial to its victim predates the Civil War and unfortunately clearly continues today.

zdragnar 8y ago
Rehab- proper rehab with counselling and treatment- is expensive. Offering work to help pay the cost makes it much more accessible, and there is definitely a theraputic effect to be had from manual labor (exercise) and a regular schedule. As long as the people there were (a) there voluntarily, (b) could leave at will, and (c) knew what they were getting into, I dont see anything wrong with it. Of course, if they were not actually getting treatment, or if the work was considered all of the "treatment" they would get, then it's an outright sham and should be sued on malpractice grounds.
- pstuart 8y ago
  If there was real concern about cost (there isn't), then we would be working to minimize the number of incarcerated.
- crooked-v 8y ago
  > or if the work was considered all of the "treatment" they would get The article makes it clear that that's the case. > Like many participants, Ethan Ewers was ordered to complete Cenikor by a Texas judge after failing a drug test while on probation. Once he arrived, he said he worked 43 days straight in a sweltering warehouse unloading cargo containers for Walmart. > Multiple former staff members told Reveal that counselors routinely falsified counseling records to make it appear as though patients received more counseling than they did. During busy work seasons, some received no counseling at all.
- munk-a 8y ago
  America pays more per inmate to get less value in terms of minimizing recidivism and general quality of life in prison than most other western nations... if for profits prison are "for profit" then they're terrible at it. We really need to amend the amendment that allows this sort of BS through - at the very least allowing prisons to harness a nearly free labour force lowers the ability for free labourers to compete with them - it's sort of like predatory pricing but for labour.
ars 8y ago
> It is not just like slavery, it _is_ slavery. They have the ability to leave though, slaves don't. So while reprehensible, it's not slavery. Wage theft is probably the best term I know of for this.
- brewdad 8y ago
  For most, leaving means going to prison.
  - munk-a 8y ago
    Where, actually, they'd probably have a more sane work arrangement, there are actually regulations around the safety of prison labourers... though again they don't get paid because private prisons gotta make sure they get lots of return customers.
- BonesJustice 8y ago
  Many of the “clients” at these rehab facilities were ordered there by a judge, so while they could technically refuse, the alternative is prison (likely involving more slave labor).

zdragnar 8y ago

Rehab- proper rehab with counselling and treatment- is expensive. Offering work to help pay the cost makes it much more accessible, and there is definitely a theraputic effect to be had from manual labor (exercise) and a regular schedule. As long as the people there were (a) there voluntarily, (b) could leave at will, and (c) knew what they were getting into, I dont see anything wrong with it. Of course, if they were not actually getting treatment, or if the work was considered all of the "treatment" they would get, then it's an outright sham and should be sued on malpractice grounds.

pstuart 8y ago
If there was real concern about cost (there isn't), then we would be working to minimize the number of incarcerated.
crooked-v 8y ago
> or if the work was considered all of the "treatment" they would get The article makes it clear that that's the case. > Like many participants, Ethan Ewers was ordered to complete Cenikor by a Texas judge after failing a drug test while on probation. Once he arrived, he said he worked 43 days straight in a sweltering warehouse unloading cargo containers for Walmart. > Multiple former staff members told Reveal that counselors routinely falsified counseling records to make it appear as though patients received more counseling than they did. During busy work seasons, some received no counseling at all.
munk-a 8y ago
America pays more per inmate to get less value in terms of minimizing recidivism and general quality of life in prison than most other western nations... if for profits prison are "for profit" then they're terrible at it. We really need to amend the amendment that allows this sort of BS through - at the very least allowing prisons to harness a nearly free labour force lowers the ability for free labourers to compete with them - it's sort of like predatory pricing but for labour.

ars 8y ago

> It is not just like slavery, it _is_ slavery. They have the ability to leave though, slaves don't. So while reprehensible, it's not slavery. Wage theft is probably the best term I know of for this.

brewdad 8y ago
For most, leaving means going to prison.
- munk-a 8y ago
  Where, actually, they'd probably have a more sane work arrangement, there are actually regulations around the safety of prison labourers... though again they don't get paid because private prisons gotta make sure they get lots of return customers.
BonesJustice 8y ago
Many of the “clients” at these rehab facilities were ordered there by a judge, so while they could technically refuse, the alternative is prison (likely involving more slave labor).