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[-] U7826391786239@lemmy.zip 24 points 1 month ago

have you considered how many americans would be happy to pay to just go ahead and incarcerate poor kids right now

[-] Canconda@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 month ago

and they're not even factoring in how for profit prisons are literal slave labour camps.

[-] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

According to the ACLU and the University of Chicago Law school the value of goods from involuntary prison labor in the US is about two billion annually. That’s not even a rounding error as compared to the annual US federal budget.

[-] cheers_queers@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 month ago

hi, public school worker here..it is not only legal but encouraged for districts to buy furniture, air filters, and other goods from prison labor sources. one year we even had a group of convicts come to paint the walls, they did a horrible job and people ended up with stolen money also. it blows my mind that this is acceptable.

[-] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Former public school worker here, thanks for sticking it out instead of being a quitter like me! Just curious what state you’re in? I ask cause I don’t remember that from my time teaching in Jersey

[-] cheers_queers@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 month ago

iowa, and if i had to interact with students more, i might be a former worker too, so dont feel bad. lol janitorial is fine with me after seeing what the other staff go through.

[-] logi@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

And that argument would matter if the goal were to improve the state of the budget. But it's irrelevant to the share holders in the private prison/slavery corporations and the politicians those corporations lobby/bribe. And that last group have the power to keep slavery going.

[-] Canconda@lemmy.ca 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

So you're saying they should have started using child prison labour decades ago?

Tho I guess that's contingent on if there will be a net return from the smaller cells & rations against the lowered productivity.

[-] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Im saying it’s not a big enough net boon to the economy that cutting it out would be a problem even from a pure numbers perspective (I feel gross even typing that out). I figure the problem is that people with political power do benefit from that two billion and they don’t want that gravy train to end.

[-] slevinkelevra@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago

Plus that the low wages outbid other businesses easily and are heavily subsidized by the tax payer.

[-] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Yeah the cruelty is definitely the point for far too many. I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that so many people don’t actually give a shit about the area they live in being a nice, human conducive place. Littering, gated communities, pollution, NIMBY bullshit… I could go on forever.

[-] Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 month ago

Most of them are too poor to be in a tax bracket that would "pay for it"

this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2025
398 points (98.5% liked)

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