4 ms·

Yes, amazingly paying someone $2/hour won't fly in a major US city.

by marcinzm 3y ago

throwup238 3y ago
It will if they’re convicts on a chain gang.
- roughly 3y ago
  Acknowledging the general ickyness of prison labor, I'd be curious what the overall effect on wellbeing and recidivism among prisoners would be of spending time working outside planting trees to make the local community a better, more beautiful place.
  - TaylorAlexander 3y ago
    Probably better than making garments for McDonald’s and Walmart, but yeah we should abolish prison labor (and prisons). Here’s a report on the state of human rights abuses in prison labor in the United States: https://news.uchicago.edu/story/us-prison-labor-programs-violate-fundamental-human-rights-new-report-finds https://news.uchicago.edu/story/us-prison-labor-programs-vio...
  - joecool1029 3y ago
    It was pointed out to me awhile back that the 'slave states' that utilize this kind of labor need all sorts of low-level nonviolent crimes to lock people up with. Why, you may ask? It turns out giving violent offenders (murderers, wife beaters, gang bangers) tools like shovels in an open environment can be pretty dangerous. Guards would rather have some pothead teenager to order around.
    - Terr_ 3y ago
      > It was pointed out to me awhile back that the 'slave states' that utilize this kind of labor need all sorts of low-level nonviolent crimes to lock people up with. Arguably a continuation of their post-civil-war Black Codes [0], where--if you had a certain skin color--it was effectively a crime to ever leave/lose your abusive "employment", then that crime led to fines, then the fines led to more fines from compounding court costs, and once you were in prison, you were forced to labor for private interests. Perhaps even the same "employer" you tried to leave. [0] https://www.history.com/news/black-codes-reconstruction-slavery https://www.history.com/news/black-codes-reconstruction-slav...
Wytwwww 3y ago
Are you saying that the people building those parks in Colombia were only paid $0.2 per hour?
- marcinzm 3y ago
  > The groundwork is carried out by 150 citizen-gardeners Probably lower on average given a lot of them got paid $0 it seems.

Yes, amazingly paying someone $2/hour won't fly in a major US city.

throwup238 3y ago

It will if they’re convicts on a chain gang.

roughly 3y ago
Acknowledging the general ickyness of prison labor, I'd be curious what the overall effect on wellbeing and recidivism among prisoners would be of spending time working outside planting trees to make the local community a better, more beautiful place.
- TaylorAlexander 3y ago
  Probably better than making garments for McDonald’s and Walmart, but yeah we should abolish prison labor (and prisons). Here’s a report on the state of human rights abuses in prison labor in the United States: https://news.uchicago.edu/story/us-prison-labor-programs-violate-fundamental-human-rights-new-report-finds https://news.uchicago.edu/story/us-prison-labor-programs-vio...
- joecool1029 3y ago
  It was pointed out to me awhile back that the 'slave states' that utilize this kind of labor need all sorts of low-level nonviolent crimes to lock people up with. Why, you may ask? It turns out giving violent offenders (murderers, wife beaters, gang bangers) tools like shovels in an open environment can be pretty dangerous. Guards would rather have some pothead teenager to order around.
  - Terr_ 3y ago
    > It was pointed out to me awhile back that the 'slave states' that utilize this kind of labor need all sorts of low-level nonviolent crimes to lock people up with. Arguably a continuation of their post-civil-war Black Codes [0], where--if you had a certain skin color--it was effectively a crime to ever leave/lose your abusive "employment", then that crime led to fines, then the fines led to more fines from compounding court costs, and once you were in prison, you were forced to labor for private interests. Perhaps even the same "employer" you tried to leave. [0] https://www.history.com/news/black-codes-reconstruction-slavery https://www.history.com/news/black-codes-reconstruction-slav...

Wytwwww 3y ago

Are you saying that the people building those parks in Colombia were only paid $0.2 per hour?

marcinzm 3y ago
> The groundwork is carried out by 150 citizen-gardeners Probably lower on average given a lot of them got paid $0 it seems.