Being a convicted felon is usually considered a black mark on your employment history.

Diogenes: I like when they use them for telemarketing. Nice fellas. Really pleasant when you tell them to leave you alone.

I stymied one who was calling for Credit Services (a well-known scam around here). "We are calling because your credit is in good standing and we can help you lower your rate on your account."

"What account are you talking about? How do you have knowledge of any of my accounts or what rates I'm paying? Who do you represent?"

"Oh, we work on behalf of customers of Visa, MasterCard, Discover...all of the major creditors."

"But which account of mine are you referring to specifically? Do I have a prior business relationship with you? If you have specific information about my accounts I'd like to know why and how."

"OK. Listen to me. Are you listening? FARK YOU YOU FARKING CORKSUCKING FARK!"

"Have a nice day." click

The nice thing about that is that he has access to all your personal records and plans to come learn you some respect when he gets out. LOL.

The high rate of imprisonment for non violent crimes and trumped up charges in no way is reflected upon the profits that these prisons make. Nope.

"These men can learn the value of an honest day's labor while providing a valuable service to the community -- and at a bare minimum of expense to Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Taxpayer!"

whyRpeoplesostupid: [i196.photobucket.com image 640x485]

...and oh my lord how the money rolled in.......

*shakes tiny fist at whyRpeoplesostupid*

FTFA: While Federal regulations stipulates that prisons and companies "must pay wages at a rate not less than that paid for similar work in the same locality's private sector," the statue also allows for 'allowable wage deductions' of up to 80% of the prisoner's wages. These deductions are for room and board, child support, victim programs and taxes. Today, after these 'allowable wage deductions', inmate wages rage from .17 cents an hour on the low end, to perhaps $3-4 dollars a day on the high end.

Oh boo friggin' hoo.

I guess the offer of possibly outsourcing the manufacture of little rocks made from big rocks, license plates, and the world's tiniest violins overseas is off the table then, huh?

Moral of the story: Don't do the crime if you can't do the time

_{/fark predatory criminals in the poopchute. oh. wait. nevermind.}

I worked at a non-profit, Christian organization that used local inmates to do some of the heavier lifting. They are paid 63 cents a day and my boss at the time wanted to get more. It kind of makes sense b/c otherwise the guys would've just sat in the detention center and smoked all day. They enjoyed getting out but most of the time they were not being paid enough to be doing the amount of work they did. But you can't argue Dog; not in that town.

And I only point out that it was a Christian organization bc I was being paid government money to work at a religious organization. Kind of blue my mind but I was being paid so whatever. The only real problem that I had was the boss would say "God has led me..." or "God has told me..." which made it hard to have a serious conversation about helping clients and the organization.

/CSB
//Needed to get that out

Rain-Monkey: I know a guy who has made many millions of dollars using prison labor for software packaging for M$FT.

He took over the local country club for his wedding, flying his private helicopter to Seatac airport for their 2-month honeymoon in Bali.

Sounds bootstrappy.

What was that sci-fi movie where the inmates kept making the prison bigger so that it could house more inmates to keep making the prison bigger?

In the not too distant future mankind will revert back to institutional slavery as the primary economic driver for all civilizations. It's just too damn efficient for any free-market society to avoid it for too long.

Not to mention all the mentally and physically challenged people in half-way houses who get paid less than minimum wage to do the most boring menial labors. Like sorting recycled materials. A company that I used to work for outsourced our manual copying and hose cutting to a group that used mentally and physically challenged people and paid them very little.

too bad we can't send grinning asswipes like Tom DeLay to these kind of places

Step 1: Detain undocumented workers.

Step 2: Put them to work doing the same job, only for free.

Step 3: Profit!



Yay for slavery.....again...

/Depressing

I don't really have an issue with using prison labor. However I do see a major conflict of interest in using it for private entities.

What's wrong with having them clean the side of public roads or take care of public parks? Or even better: growing some of their own food, cleaning up and maintaining the prison, doing their own laundry, etc. Stuff that defrays the cost of keeping them in jail but doesn't turn a profit.

Giving one entity the ability to arrest and sentence people AND the ability to make money off arresting and sentencing people strikes me as a bit concerning.

The state should have no financial interest in increasing the prison population.

I don't like seeing prisoners used as slave labor. I also don't like subby's weird, whiny website. I'd like to see an article on the subject written by a source I can trust.

This article is the biggest pile of nonsense I have ever read - trying to claim that prison labor is American Slavery is absurd.

First - it is VOLUNTARY for a prisoner to decide if they want to work for one of these companies. Only a small percentage of the U.S. prison population works in these jobs.

Second - Prisoners are BEGGING to be selected for these oppotunities and only the best behaved are selected.

Third - Working for pay is part of the Rehabilitation process.

Wasn't that the plot to The Caves of Androzani episode of Doctor Who?

Raoul Eaton: I don't like seeing prisoners used as slave labor. I also don't like subby's weird, whiny website. I'd like to see an article on the subject written by a source I can trust.

"Over all, there are now more people under "correctional supervision" in America-more than six million-than were in the Gulag Archipelago under Stalin at its height. That city of the confined and the controlled, Lockuptown, is now the second largest in the United States." -The Caging of America

gblive: Third - Working for pay is part of the Rehabilitation process.

So you don't see any issue with the fact that prisoners work for $0.85/hr whereas their non-prisoner counterparts would be more like $8.50/hr? No kind of big incentive to ensure a steady supply of prisoners versus paying free citizens a fair wage?

Screw prison labour, gimmie Running Man.

MusicMakeMyHeadPound: gblive: Third - Working for pay is part of the Rehabilitation process.

So you don't see any issue with the fact that prisoners work for $0.85/hr whereas their non-prisoner counterparts would be more like $8.50/hr plus benefits? No kind of big incentive to ensure a steady supply of prisoners versus paying free citizens a fair wage?

FTFM. So much spending in this country comes back to health insurance costs.

MusicMakeMyHeadPound: gblive: Third - Working for pay is part of the Rehabilitation process.

So you don't see any issue with the fact that prisoners work for $0.85/hr whereas their non-prisoner counterparts would be more like $8.50/hr? No kind of big incentive to ensure a steady supply of prisoners versus paying free citizens a fair wage?

Actually it is a contract relationship. The companies are paying above minimum wage for the prisoners' labor; the prison system keeps 80% or more of the money to compensate the public for room & board, food, etc. The prisoner can spend their money in the prison store to buy electronics, foods, candy, etc. There is also a problem that if you put too much money in the hands of prisoners then they would spend it on drugs in an underground prison economy; therefore there are limits on the amount of money each prisoner can have.

I think prisoners should be ground up into meat patties and fed to the homeless. Then we should imprison the homeless until they get their turn in the meat grinder. In the end, we will end up with no homeless people and no prisoners. This is how we will build our paradise.

gblive: MusicMakeMyHeadPound: gblive: Third - Working for pay is part of the Rehabilitation process.

So you don't see any issue with the fact that prisoners work for $0.85/hr whereas their non-prisoner counterparts would be more like $8.50/hr? No kind of big incentive to ensure a steady supply of prisoners versus paying free citizens a fair wage?

Actually it is a contract relationship. The companies are paying above minimum wage for the prisoners' labor; the prison system keeps 80% or more of the money to compensate the public for room & board, food, etc. The prisoner can spend their money in the prison store to buy electronics, foods, candy, etc. There is also a problem that if you put too much money in the hands of prisoners then they would spend it on drugs in an underground prison economy; therefore there are limits on the amount of money each prisoner can have.

And you don't see the problem inherent in a prison being able to take 80 percent of the money from a forced labor source?

Anyone read the "about" page on the website TFA comes from? Yikes.


/The male gender has legitimate concerns and problems. I get it. Whining about it and calling women "bigots" isn't going to get you a whole lot of sympathy from anyone. Just throwing that out there.

I don't like seeing prisoners used as slave labor. I also don't like subby's weird, whiny website. I'd like to see an article on the subject written by a source I can trust.

Daily KOS Story
UMASS Paper
An old Nation article on the Private Prison Complex

There are others, but you get the idea.

Needlessly Complicated: Anyone read the "about" page on the website TFA comes from? Yikes.


/The male gender has legitimate concerns and problems. I get it. Whining about it and calling women "bigots" isn't going to get you a whole lot of sympathy from anyone. Just throwing that out there.

Heh. If you want to see really pathetic: http://www.avoiceformen.com/sexual-politics/m-g-t-o-w/koan-the-herbiv o re-eats-meat/

Try to read that and not think, "Mandrake, have you never wondered why I drink only distilled water, or rainwater, and only pure-grain alcohol?"

highrye: gblive: MusicMakeMyHeadPound: gblive: Third - Working for pay is part of the Rehabilitation process.

So you don't see any issue with the fact that prisoners work for $0.85/hr whereas their non-prisoner counterparts would be more like $8.50/hr? No kind of big incentive to ensure a steady supply of prisoners versus paying free citizens a fair wage?

Actually it is a contract relationship. The companies are paying above minimum wage for the prisoners' labor; the prison system keeps 80% or more of the money to compensate the public for room & board, food, etc. The prisoner can spend their money in the prison store to buy electronics, foods, candy, etc. There is also a problem that if you put too much money in the hands of prisoners then they would spend it on drugs in an underground prison economy; therefore there are limits on the amount of money each prisoner can have.

And you don't see the problem inherent in a prison being able to take 80 percent of the money from a forced labor source?

Anyone have any proof or anecdotes about how "forced" vs volunteer these prison workforces are?

/hot like the chains of bondage