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Don't forget enforcing black codes and Jim Crow during reconstruction. A lot of those laws are still on the books. Vagrancy, loitering, anti-camping, anti-panha
by foxyv 4y ago
Don't forget enforcing black codes and Jim Crow during reconstruction. A lot of those laws are still on the books. Vagrancy, loitering, anti-camping, anti-panhandling, etc...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Codes_(United_States)#:~:text=Although%20freedmen%20had%20been%20emancipated,commit%20them%20to%20involuntary%20labor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Codes_(United_States)#:~....
- sonotathrowaway 4y agoThose are the historical reasons prisons were necessary, but those all go towards the above goals - providing a source of slave labor. It has expanded its reach since then though. While the legal has a hard time incarcerating people who haven’t committed crimes (although it still does this, and actively builds up its pipeline for fresh bodies), it’s still able to exploit innocent people for profit. You can see this in prisons strategy of removing and banning in person visits, moving convicts far from their communities, and extorting families with predatory prices to communicate with their loved ones.