What’s rule 1 and 2 there?
Fwiw, they are slaves, the Constitution refers to them as such, and they can’t truly consent to the labor when the alternative is to rot in prison conditions so deplorable they’ve been decried as inhumane by the UN and other international organizations.
That said, I do think that you were polite and civil in your post.
- No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia.
- Be respectful, especially when disagreeing. Everyone should feel welcome here.
Prisoners can be forced to work in the US, to my knowledge.
Penal labor is permitted under the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits slavery except as a punishment for a crime where the individual has been convicted.[1] The courts have held that detainees awaiting trial cannot be forced to work.[14] However, convicted criminals who are medically able to work are typically required to do so in roles such as food service, warehouse work, plumbing, painting, or as inmate orderlies.[15]According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, inmates earn between 12-40 cents per hour for these jobs, which is below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.[15] There have been proposals of ideas to help incarcerated workers obtain better wages and improved working conditions through unionizing prison labor.
The user is clearly wrong, but they’re wrong in a way that’s incredible common among Americans. It’s not their fault, exactly, they’ve been taught to think that slavery is okay from birth. That all said, I don’t think their post actually violates the rules and they’re clearly open to discussion on the issue.
My guy, it simply isn’t slavery. These inmates are entirely free to just not do this type of work.
Yes, there is actual slavery in US prisons. There is mandatory labor. It’s fucked up.
That said, unless I’ve missed something critical, this is not one of those situations. They had to choose to apply to the firefighting position.
But in this case they are volunteers. They specifically applied to the firefighting program.
There’s certainly cause for discussion about the ethics, etc. but calling it slavery or involuntary servitude is hyperbole.
The 100+ page report at https://www.aclu.org/publications/captive-labor-exploitation-incarcerated-workers makes note of this:
More than three quarters of incarcerated people surveyed (76%) report facing punishment—such as solitary confinement, denial of sentence reductions, or loss of family visitation—if they decline to work.
Calling them volunteers is the hyperbole.
Anyway, give the report a read, yeah.
I think you’re conflating the general issue of inmate labor with the particular issue of inmate firefighters.
PTB
Its a .ml community. They do not like nuances.
They love to powertrip, and the 2 month ban is just ridiculous for a simple disagreement. I don’t see anything in the comment that is in any way bigoted or uncivil.
I personally have blocked all news and politics communities from .ml
Btw, even if they are not technically “slaves”, they are de facto slaves, because they only done so under coercion.
Found your problem. Especially when Yogthos is a mod, and I presume the one that banned you. Any suggestion that the West isn’t absolutely the worst possible everything at all times merits at least downvoted and at most a ban.
B-b-but, do you mean to say that the sidebar description of
A community of privacy and FOSS enthusiasts, run by Lemmy’s developers.
might be slightly inaccurate?!?!?!
I am not even disappointed - tankies gonna tank after all - but it would be so extremely helpful if they would at least describe themselves properly, as a troll instance. Or, failing that, that instances would defederate from them, or at least add a warning label to avoid “misunderstandings” when people walk in there not knowing what to expect. It’s bad for us all that we don’t do that, similarly to how it’s bad for Xhitter that Elon Musk is allowed to post there.
