update on what our prison slaves are working on

[ensho]

http://www.alternet.org/story/150777/defense_contractors_using_prison_labor_to_build_high-tech_weapons_systems?page=entire


Defense Contractors Using Prison Labor to Build High-Tech Weapons Systems

Prison labor seems like a win-win to many, but a closer look reveals a race to the bottom for skilled workers.



It is a little known fact of the attack on Libya that some of the components of the cruise missiles being launched into the country mayl have been made by prisoners in the United States. According to its website, UNICOR, which is the organization that represents Federal Prison Industries, “supplies numerous electronic components and service for guided missiles, including the Patriot Advanced Capability Missile (PAC-3)”.

In addition to constructing electronic components for missiles, prison labor in the United States is used to make electronic cables for defense items like “the McDonnell Douglas/Boeing (BA) F-15, the General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin F-16, Bell/Textron’s (TXT) Cobra helicopter, as well as electro-optical equipment for the BAE Systems”.

Traditionally these types of defense jobs would have gone to highly paid, unionized workers. However the prison workers building parts for these missiles earn a starting wage of 23 cents an hour and can only make a maximum of $1.15 an hour. Nearly 1 in 100 adults are in jail in the United States and are exempt from our minimum wage laws, creating a sizable captive workforce that could undercut outside wage standards.

-snip-

In some cases, forced prison labor has resulted in inmates being brutalized rather than rehabilitated. Last year, Georgia inmates went on strike at six prisons for over a week. They complained that they were beaten if they refused to work prison jobs for little or sometimes no pay.

(sounds like slavery to me)

-snip-
----------------------------

we should be so proud of our Barons' creativity in making money by using prison slaves to build weapons of death

[YellowRubberDuckie]

1. There is a skill we need our prisoners learning:

Weapons building. That's fucking moronic.

[Mopar151]

45. Weapons only in the abstract

This kind of stuff looks like parts of your computer - and the ability to assemble and solder to MIL-spec standards is a good, useful skill.
The real issue here is the explotation of "captive" labor, and who profits from it.

[The Magistrate]

2. We Seem Determined, Ma'am, To Give The Twentieth Century Totalitarians a Run For Their Money....

[DBoon]

3. the word is "gulag"

Now tell me which side actually won the cold war?

[ensho]

5. kick, when they were first published I read those gulag books and

articles

never thinking to see it here in the US

sigh

[RZM]

19. Anybody comparing US prisons to the Soviet camp system has some reading to do

Certainly I'm not endorsing what's described in the OP. But anything but the most cursory comparisons of the GULag to US prisons is intellectually dishonest


http://www.amazon.com/Gulag-History-Anne-Applebaum/dp/1400034094/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305306528&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/History-Gulag-Collectivization-Terror-Communism/dp/0300092849/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1305306562&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.com/Gulag-Archipelago-1918-1956-Experiment-Investigation/dp/0813332893/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305306588&sr=1-2

http://www.amazon.com/Man-Wolf-Surviving-Gulag/dp/0520221524/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305306694&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Children-Gulag-Annals-Communism-Frierson/dp/0300122934/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305306724&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Gulag-World-Stalins-Special-Settlements/dp/0195385098/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305306813&sr=1-1

[BOG PERSON]

23. peak soviet incarceration rate and current US incarceration rate is the same

[RZM]

25. Perhaps it is, though I don't think that justifies a strong comparison

I'd be surprised if that stat included the 'special settlers' . . . people who were exiled to a specific region and prevented from leaving (though plenty did under the noses of the authorities).

The judicial process in the Soviet Union was nothing like what you find in the United States. Millions were either shot or sentenced to terms on the flimsiest of pretexts and 'confessions' were routinely obtained through savage beatings. 682,000 people were shot (many of them foreign nationals) just from 1937-38 alone, which is about the same number of Americans who were killed on both sides combined during the Civil War.

Also, the death rate in the GULag was far higher than in the US prison system . . . it peaked in 1942 (admittedly a hard time for the Soviet state) at about 24 percent.

Again, I challenge anyone to read extensively about the Soviet camp system and still make the argument that it was anything like the current US prison system.

[readmoreoften]

39. If you're black, it's exactly like this. Google videos from prison in Texas and tell me its not.

People come back out here with "the slims" because they lose so much weight from being half-starved. There is ongoing unchecked police brutality, including rape in both immigrant detention centers and prisons in Texas. Some of the video looks like Abu Ghraib.

While you were worried about the evil totalitarians abroad, they were always in your backyard. And its really getting much worse.

[Hannah Bell]

29. bullshit.

[RZM]

30. I can only think of two reasons somebody would make those types of comparisons

Either they lack basic knowledge of one or both systems, or they are deliberately making a misleading statement.

[Hannah Bell]

32. i can only think of two reasons somebody would deny that there are similar

aspects to both systems.

but i won't say them.

[RZM]

34. You're not bringing much to the table here

Are you going to engage in real debate or just take potshots?

BTW, there are some superficial similarities. Both were extensive, both were systems of confinement, etc. But not much else.

[Hannah Bell]

36. neither are you. the similarities aren't superficial at all.

1) system to control dissidents/the underclass? check
2) slave labor system used to build state power? check
3) off the chart incarceration rates? check

[RZM]

37. How about this

1) Inhumane conditions of transport to camp facilities? Not check
2) Insane annual death rates? Not check
3) Deportation of millions solely on an ethnic basis? Not check
4) Internal exile system (the 'special settlements')? Not check
5) Complete absence of due process? Not check
6) Repression of entire families (including children) for the actions (or background) of one member? Not check
7) ACTUAL slave labor with no monetary compensation (mining gold and making license plates are not the same thing)? Not check

It's 2011. We've had almost 20 years of archival access in the former Soviet Union. You're making an argument that has has been dead for quite a while now. I strongly encourage you to examine some of the works I linked to in a post above. There's plenty more where that came from, BTW.

[DBoon]

49. both systems are an assault on the rights of free labor

prison labor has as an underlying philosophical basis an opposition to the rights of free labor.

A less brutal form of coercion does not remove the coercion, nor does it deny the effects on the rights of those outside the prison labor system.

Prison labor creates a need to create more prisoners and to create prisoners out of otherwise stable, hard working citizens.

Where goods made by forced labor are allowed to displace goods made by free labor, the freedom of all is diminished

[Rage for Order]

53. What should prisoners do all day, then?

Should we allow them to sit around in their cells all day, supplying them all with laptop computers and internet access so they can do what interests them until they are released? If you are in favor of rehabilitating criminals, how do you propose they learn a marketable skill they can use when they are released from prison?

"Where goods made by forced labor are allowed to displace goods made by free labor, the freedom of all is diminished"

Where does it end? Can prisoners work in the prison cafeteria preparing meals and serving their fellow inmates? Can they do the prison laundry? Can they work on prison farms growing food for the prison? Can they mop the prison floors? If not done by prisoners, i.e. "forced labor", the state would have to pay free men to do all of these jobs and many more.

[Rage for Order]

55. Your comparison is invalid

1) system to control dissidents/the underclass? check

Can you give me a list of names of the people who are in prison because of their "dissident" activities? Do you think only people from the "underclass" (however you classify them) go to prison?

2) slave labor system used to build state power? check

How much do slaves earn? The article states that the prisoners "...earn a starting wage of 23 cents an hour and can only make a maximum of $1.15 an hour." That's anywhere from $478 to $2,392 per year. Hopefully the difference is going to the prison system to offset some of the costs incurred by us, the taxpayers, because of the inmates' criminal behavior. People in prison owe a debt to society.

3) off the chart incarceration rates? check

What chart are you looking at? The article in the OP states "Nearly 1 in 100 adults are in jail in the United States...". Nearly 1 in 100 adults equates to less than 1% of the adult population. When did less than 1% become an "off the chart" rate of anything?

[DBoon]

48. The difference is in degree and not kind

Using prisoners for forced labor is an underlying violation of human rights and is an assualt on free labor.

When prisons serve as factories, the rationale for incarceration changes from rehabiltation or punishment for the crime to a need to increase a cheap, easily disciplined workforce existing outside the protections of a civilized society.

That things are not as brutal as they were in the Soviet Union is no reason to deny similarities

[Capitalocracy]

41. Which side actually won the Civil War?

Slavery was abolished, but it moved into the prisons over time. And most of those slaves still have the same color skin. Also, today, many people are working for less than what it costs for food and a roof over their head. So who won the Civil War?

Think about it

[formercia]

4. Werner Von Braun would be proud.

He pioneered that business model building V-2s.

[ensho]

6. and giggling all the way to the bank

I never thought it was a wise thing for us to cozy up to him

[hootinholler]

17. While he certainly used prison labor...

I doubt he pioneered its use. I have many 19th century tools in my collection that were produced in Ithica NY by prison slaves, er, prisoners.

Unrelated, any pointers towards In-Q-Tel?

-Hoot

[formercia]

18. No leads there.

It was after my time. Actually, the CIA has funded some very useful technology. I don't think the Cell Phone would exist today as it is without the funding for the development of low-powered and miniaturized transceivers. Like NASA, a lot of the technology that was developed with taxpayer dollars, for other purposes has managed to filter into the civilian world.

[coalition_unwilling]

63. I think you may be confusing Albert Speer with von Braun, but

not sure.

Von Braun presided over the v-2 program, but I think it was Speer who developed the system of using slave labor to manufacture the munitions.

It's been awhile since I studied the subject, though, so I may be mis-remembering or giving Speer too much credit when von Braun is also due some.

[Brickbat]

7. Prison labor is slave labor.

[ck4829]

8. So then where is all the money to the Pentagon going?

[Recursion]

9. To the other 99% of the components that aren't made using prison labor

This is awful, but it's not a very big part of defense contracting, fortunately.

[Hannah Bell]

27. defense contractors' profit margins. the slaves get $1/hr but the contractors get $500/hr.

[mimitabby]

10. I know a lifer, he earns 32 cents an hour

[lynne]

12. PLUS food, board and free medical care. -

- Sounds like a sweet deal to me.

[Horse with no Name]

13. Yeah he is living the high life, eh?

Are you fucking serious? You do realize that the "War on Drugs" bought many hardworking and decent Americans prison terms--for this intended purpose.

The corporations needed a cheap labor source to boost their profit margins--so they get people jammed up over stupid possession charges. These people are generally non-violent and just want to serve their time so that they can get on with their life. They are the PERFECT captive workforce. They can't call in sick, they can't complain about wages, benefits, etc.

And also...that lovely gem about "free medical care". I had a friend who worked as a nurse in a County Jail. They had a lady in her 20's that was incarcerated for writing bad checks because she couldn't figure out how to take care of her kids. Long story short...she had heavy bleeding for months. My friend tried to get additional medical care for her, her request was refused by the jail doctor.
Long story short, the woman had cervical cancer and her inability to obtain adequate reasonable medical care turned her misdemeanor bad check sentence into the death penalty.

So, excuse me if your post makes me want to hurl.

[lynne]

14. You denying what I wrote was truthful?

If you are, spit it out. If not, get a grip.

[Horse with no Name]

15. Yes. What you wrote was a RW talking point.

.32 an hour/room and board/no freedom does NOT seem like a sweet deal to me.

[RZM]

20. It's certainly not a sweet deal

Though for lifers who commit murder (not saying this particular inmate did), the victim(s) got a much worse deal.

[Incitatus]

22. There was an recent article about someone who ended up with a life sentence

for nothing but marijuana charges. I can't say I have any sympathy for those who murder.

[RZM]

28. I support decriminalization of all drugs, though I'd start with marijauna

But I'll bet that a sentence like the one you mentioned is very rare. Doesn't justify it happening in this instance, of course, but I doubt it happens much. If you are in for life, you probably were convicted of a violent crime.

IMO, ways of life in prison are the most glaring deficiencies in our justice system. Murder, beatings, extortion, gang activity, rape, and sexual slavery are all fairly common in US prisons and I find it very strange that so few people seem to care. Basic human rights are not respected in many of our prisons.

[Capitalocracy]

42. Sure, if you're in for life, it might be for a violent crime...

but people who did nothing but take drugs often end up in prison for decades. That's a pretty decent chunk of your life. And most of the people that happens to are black and/or poor, you probably won't be surprised to find out.

There are laws still on the books that make it possible, and are specifically designed, to put drug users in prison for life. There's a huge difference in sentencing between snortable cocaine and smokeable crack cocaine possession, for example. The primary difference between the two is that one is for rich people and the other for poor people. And I heard, could be wrong about this, that they stack LSD sentences one on top of the other for individual doses, so if you get caught with a few of them together, you'll go to jail for life.

[Hannah Bell]

31. yes, i deny what you wrote was truthful.

[Capitalocracy]

43. If it's such a sweet deal, give it a try.

Go rob a Wal-Mart or something and give it a try, then come back and tell us how it went.

[Matariki]

16. Your post is sickening, you know. n/t

[Horse with no Name]

35. Has the same smack as this nugget:

"Almost everyone I've talked to said we're going to move to Houston. What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. (Said with concern.) Everybody is so overwhelmed by all the hospitality. And so many of the peoples in the arena here, you know, they're underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them." ...Barbara Bush's insults to victims of Katrina

[Incitatus]

21. You can easily join him if it sounds so sweet. nt

[Obamanaut]

33. Not free at all. You and I are paying for it. nt

[Daphne08]

40. Your post is disgusting! n/t

[wickerwoman]

46. The point

Your head

[DBoon]

50. It's not free - he is paying for it with his liberty

he has given up the most precious good a human being can have for a very minimal set of state-provided accomodations.

Doesn't sound like a good deal to me.

[Zax2me]

59. Oh puke - he 'has given up the most precious'

Make me vomit.
This isn't a negotiation.
A trade of goods.
He's a CRIMINAL.
He didn't trade ANYTHING.
Good grief.

[Posteritatis]

51. What a staggeringly idiotic post. (nt)

[RadiationTherapy]

52. Room and board in a room with 30 other men.

Shitting and showering and jacking off in the same 300sq. foot area.

Food that lacks effective nutrients. Medical care if you get your head slammed into the concrete for mouthing off to all the alpha-swinging dicks on both sides of the bars.

What a ridiculous simplification.

[Rage for Order]

54. + 1

These prisoners aren't "working for nothing". It costs the state about $30,000 to house an inmate. Giving the prisoners $0.32 per hour is generous, in my opinion.

[Matariki]

58. And why, do tell, do private industries get to profit on that fact?

Given that, perhaps industries that use prison labor should be paying market rates - and the bulk of the wages should be funneled into social programs.

[Zax2me]

60. I don't know - free country?

[Matariki]

61. What in the world kind of answer is that?

"Free country"??? That's your response to private companies profiteering at the expense of forced prison labor and tax payer expense?

I really fear for the state we've come to when I see such foolish, poorly thought out responses to something so fucked up.

[Rage for Order]

64. Prisons should not be privatized

It is a practice that needs to stop.

Maybe industries can get some price break, say 15% - 25% from the normal wages for the work done, for helping prisoners learn a skill they can use upon release. But I agree with you otherwise; businesses should have to pay the prisons decently, with the difference being directed to programs to combat recidivism or other programs that will ultimately reduce the need for prisons.

[laureloak]

65. I used to think the same thing but now I know better.

Now that I've met an inmate with a 7 fractured discs as the result of a fall on a wet floor. That accident happened 7 years ago and the inmate was not given an MRI until January 2011. He was seen by medical personnel from a contracted service and was told nothing was wrong even though he couldn't stand straight and lost 6" of height in one year. The only medication he was given was Motrin and he had to pay $2.00 per dose even though he only made .45 per hour. The crime was nonviolent, but regardless of that, mistreatment of prisoners is NOT what America is about. Surely there's a way to handle nonviolent offenders that would enable them to hold down jobs and support their families. As it is, if a parent goes to prison the whole family goes on welfare. We need prison reform now but our politicans are too scared to touch it.

[Horse with no Name]

11. Well...those sounds like jobs that unincarcerated Americans won't do

:sarcasm:
Just in case I need it. :eyes:

But seriously. Reaping corporate profits from unintentional sources should be criminal.

[BOG PERSON]

24. behold

the future of american manufacturing!

[Hannah Bell]

26. oh good. more profit for prison corps & defense contractors.

conscript labor = slave labor

[frylock]

38. the wonderful symbiosis of the MIC and the PIC

mutherfuckers

[onethatcares]

44. these are the same people that can't get a

job working for the defense industry because they can't get a security clearance due to being previously incarcerated.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, makes perfect sense to me.

[Chris_Texas]

47. win

[inna]

56. what a SCARY fucking country.

[Odin2005]

57. Private prisons and prison slave labor MUST BE BANNED.

[leftstreet]

62. kick

Thanks for posting this