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I don’t believe they argued that the 13th amendment says prisoners are slaves. They only asked you to imagine that you are and they pointed out that it’s allowe
by codazoda 2y ago
I don’t believe they argued that the 13th amendment says prisoners are slaves. They only asked you to imagine that you are and they pointed out that it’s allowed “according to the Thirteenth amendment”. At least, that was my interpretation.
- nickff 2y agoMy read is that they were asking the reader to imagine they (the reader) are a prisoner, and thus a slave according to the thirteenth amendment. Even under your reading, that comment is a pure hypothetical, because federal prisoners are not slaves. I happen to believe that the federal government has enslaved people in a different context, very recently, conscripts.
- jmholla 2y agoThe very amendment you've been quoting explicitly calls it slavery. What would this system look like if slavery wasn't excused for incarceration?
- SoftTalker 2y agoThey call it "involuntary servitude." I read it as: Neither (slavery) nor (involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted), shall exist within the United States ...
- jmholla 2y agoIt's a distinction without a difference. Even the Wikipedia article explicitly says that involuntary servitude and involuntary slavery are used interchangeably. [0] I feel you're getting caught up in word choice instead of arguing the actual implementation and interpretation of the law. [0]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Involuntary_servitude https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Involuntary_servitude