California Tells Court It Can’t Release Inmates Early Because It Would Lose Cheap Prison Labor

[Judi Lynn]

Published on Tuesday, November 18, 2014
by ThinkProgress

California Tells Court It Can’t Release Inmates Early Because It Would Lose Cheap Prison Labor

by Nicole Flatow, ThinkProgress

Out of California’s years-long litigation over reducing the population of prisons deemed unconstitutionally overcrowded by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010, another obstacle to addressing the U.S. epidemic of mass incarceration has emerged: The utility of cheap prison labor.

In recent filings, lawyers for the state have resisted court orders that they expand parole programs, reasoning not that releasing inmates early is logistically impossible or would threaten public safety, but instead that prisons won’t have enough minimum security inmates left to perform inmate jobs.

The dispute culminated Friday, when a three-judge federal panel ordered California to expand an early parole program. California now has no choice but to broaden a program known as 2-for-1 credits that gives inmates who meet certain milestones the opportunity to have their sentences reduced. But California’s objections raise troubling questions about whether prison labor creates perverse incentives to keep inmates in prison even when they don’t need to be there.

The debate centers around an expansive state program to have inmates fight wildfires. California is one of several states that employs prison labor to fight wildfires. And it has the largest such program, as the state’s wildfire problem rapidly expands arguably because of climate change. By employing prison inmates who are paid less than $2 per day, the state saves some $1 billion, according to a recent BuzzFeed feature of the practice. California relies upon that labor source, and only certain classes of nonviolent inmates charged with lower level offenses are eligible for the selective program. They must then meet physical and other criteria.

More:
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/11/18/california-tells-court-it-cant-release-inmates-early-because-it-would-lose-cheap

[Xipe Totec]

1. Somehow, it seems to me, we've lost sight of the mission of the department of CORRECTIONS. nt

[bravenak]

2. PRISON IS THE NEW SLAVERY!!!!nt

[Ampersand Unicode]

6. Useful texts on this subject

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, and Racism Without Racists by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/new-jim-crow-michelle-alexander/1101303322?ean=9781595586438

Once in a great while a book comes along that changes the way we see the world and helps to fuel a nationwide social movement. The New Jim Crow is such a book. Praised by Harvard Law professor Lani Guinier as "brave and bold," this book directly challenges the notion that the election of Barack Obama signals a new era of colorblindness. With dazzling candor, legal scholar Michelle Alexander argues that "we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it." By targeting black men through the War on Drugs and decimating communities of color, the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control—relegating millions to a permanent second-class status—even as it formally adheres to the principle of colorblindness. In the words of Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, this book is a "call to action."

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/racism-without-racists-eduardo-bonilla-silva/1120734454?ean=9781442220553

Eduardo Bonilla-Silva’s acclaimed Racism without Racists documents how beneath our contemporary conversation about race lies a full-blown arsenal of arguments, phrases, and stories that whites use to account for—and ultimately justify—racial inequalities. This provocative book explodes the belief that America is now a color-blind society.

The fourth edition adds a chapter on what Bonilla-Silva calls "the new racism," which provides the essential foundation to explore issues of race and ethnicity in more depth. This edition also updates Bonilla-Silva’s assessment of race in America after President Barack Obama’s re-election. Obama’s presidency, Bonilla-Silva argues, does not represent a sea change in race relations, but rather embodies disturbing racial trends of the past.

In this fourth edition, Racism without Racists will continue to challenge readers and stimulate discussion about the state of race in America today.

[louis-t]

3. " creates perverse incentives to keep inmates in prison"

Got the idea? It's the same reason private prisons should never be allowed.

[enough]

4. Using inmates to fight wildfires for under $2/day, and preventing them from being released

when they would otherwise be eligible to do so. The evil of this system is staggering.

[procon]

5. I see those camp crew guys all the time

They do backbreaking work for long hours under the most horrendous and dangerous conditions during fire season. They don't have the extensive training that fire fighters have, or the same quality of gear and safety equipment. Prison labor might be one step up from slave labor, and California probably saves millions of $$$ by not using regular fire and forestry employees, but damn, how can the state use that as an excuse to deprive prisoners of their rightful release and liberty?

The 3 strikes laws, the willy-nilly imprisonment of the homeless, debtors, non-violent crimes, the mentally ill, and people with addictions, all contribute to the free labor pool. In recent memory, the US criticized China and other countries for their use of prison labor, so how do we dare go finger-pointing over human rights issues when we are doing the same thing?