Quote:
Originally Posted by aklim
1. Don't you? for the most part a slave is owned permanently. IOW, I own you and any children you breed. A prisoner compelled to work is basically made to earn his keep.
2. I don't have a problem with making him pick up trash, break rocks, etc, etc. Anything to make him work his debt off. Otherwise we have to pick up the tab for his incarceration.
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1. prisoners vary from short-timers to lifers. Clearly, short-term, non-lifers fall within your category. Lifers fall into mine. In between are the longer-term non-lifers. Let's say a man has "only" 30 years to serve and he's in his mid-20's. He has a "choice" of staying in a 10X6 cell for 30 years or doing piecework on the prison factory floor for $1.00/hr with $9.00/hr (or whatever, I pulled those figures out of nowhere) taken by the state to pay for his incarceration.
To me, that is so very near involuntary compulsion that I believe it is a form of slavery, but I can accept that you do not see it that way.
Let's say you have a business that manufactures (or imports) stamped metal items. I'm the prison warden and I convince my state legislature to buy the machinery and to build a factory to produce stamped items. I will compete directly with you. Sound fair?
B