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Freed slaves would wind up convicted of "vagrancy". That is, being black and unable to prove employment to the judge, who would be getting kickbacks for each co
by zardo 4y ago
Freed slaves would wind up convicted of "vagrancy". That is, being black and unable to prove employment to the judge, who would be getting kickbacks for each conviction from the local lumber company that hired out prison labor.
- kthielen 4y agoSounds like an unjust law and/or an unfair enforcement of the law, rather than an argument that incarcerated people shouldn’t be forced to work. Freed slaves also were unfairly scrutinized for eligibility to vote. Does that mean we should never work to guarantee the integrity of our voting systems?
- mushbino 4y agoThere are unfortunately many companies who lobby the government to keep prison population high because they depend on cheap/free prison labor. Over 4,100 companies profit off of prison labor in the US. That's a lot of incentive. https://corpaccountabilitylab.org/calblog/2020/8/5/private-companies-producing-with-us-prison-labor-in-2020-prison-labor-in-the-us-part-ii https://corpaccountabilitylab.org/calblog/2020/8/5/private-c...