Government turns to prisoners for cheap labor
The road to riches is paved with cheap labor. (See: China) And you don’t get much cheaper than prisoners.
A skilled onion picker can earn $10 an hour.
Recently, the state of Georgia announced a plan to use prisoners to harvest crops. Why? A new law pretty much ran off Hispanic field hands.
As federal employees celebrate Columbus, perhaps history’s most famous and geographically confused immigrant, the lack of onion pickers in Vidalia brings crocodile tears to the eyes.
The prisoner farm plan comes after a failed scheme to seduce probationers into doing the dirty work.
Now, a Georgia county is planning to use inmates to man fire stations.
A properly trained firefighter costs upwards of $30,000 a year. An inmate will work a lot cheaper – Camden County hopes to save $500,000 a year.
Of course, when my flaming roof is about to collapse, I’d prefer a guy to show up with an ax that knows how to use it for its law-abiding purpose.
Georgia isn’t the only place giving jobs to the undeserving: Indiana’s War Memorial saves $400,000 a year since using inmates ($1.50 per hour) instead of a landscaping company.
With a seemingly limitless number of criminals to employ, the jobless rate may not go down anytime soon.
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125 comments Add your comment
dood
October 10th, 2011
12:05 pm
picking peaches is one thing, saving a family in a burning building? Forget it. Terrible idea. The worst!
The one bright side could be I wouldn’t need to grab my valuables in a burning building, certainly they’d find my watches, the wife’s jewelry, and nice electronics.
GTHunter
October 10th, 2011
12:07 pm
I have NO issue with using prisoners to pick crops. NONE. Fighting fires is a different story….
Ken Kahn
October 10th, 2011
12:09 pm
They should have ben put to work in the fields long ago. No downside. They have no “rights” (beyond human rights) when in jail.
MA
October 10th, 2011
12:09 pm
It is about time! Most of the criminals out there apparently do not know how to W-O-R-K. Instead of sitting around in prison taking drugs (yes, it does happen!), watching TV, lifting weights, planning what their next crime spree will be when they get out of jail, etc. they need to be sweating like the rest of productive society. If they can’t contribute to society while out of jail, at least they can be productive while in prison.
Great Idea
October 10th, 2011
12:09 pm
I think using inmates to perform agricultural jobs and landscaping duties on government property is a great idea!! I think using inmate labor for firefighting is a horrible idea! Firefighters should not be tasked with having to supervise inmates. Their concentration should be solely on fighting the fire~!!
yhfaith
October 10th, 2011
12:11 pm
Be careful people with the comments– these people in prison are someone’s children and one day it could be one of yours. Be careful what you wish on these people.
Junior Samples
October 10th, 2011
12:14 pm
Inmates as firefighters. Brilliant!
“The inmates would have no guard, but would be monitored by a surveillance system and by the traditional firefighters, who would undergo training to guard the inmates”
Even better.
shameonhumanity
October 10th, 2011
12:15 pm
This is obviously a return to slavery and will make the current justice system even more ripe for corruption. What incentive with counties have to educate kids, keep families strong and healthy, create opportunities for youth to lift themselves out of poverty, to rehabilitate drug and alcohol addicts and to help former prisoners reintegrate into society if it is much more profitable to create more prisoners. With that kind of incentive, we create wounded, uneducated children to feed into a prison industrial complex. Perfect for a south that never finished mourning the loss of a confederacy. Its a slippery slop and this is the new world order at play.
Freedom Lover
October 10th, 2011
12:15 pm
Worse idea ever. Let me see. We need more cotton picked. Hey bubba lets go down to the hood and bust me some young men so my cousin Jr. can get some cheap labor to pick his cotton..Is it going to be as easy to fight charges when we need people to pick tomatoes the government would now have an intrest in busting people..
Makes Cents
October 10th, 2011
12:16 pm
And why shouldn’t this state use this labor? Our tax dollars go towards expensive court fees and court appointed lawyers. Then our tax dollars go to housing, feeding, bathing, educating, and medically treating these convicted felons for years if not decades. They should be contributing to society in a meaningful way – not just eat, sleep, and poop. I look at this as a win-win because the state gets badly needed labor and the felons get some trade skills that they may be able to use if/when they are released. Prisons are supposed to be rehabilitation centers anyway. As far as the immigrants who were here illegally and have left for fear of deportation? Good! There is a legal way to become a citizen. Just because it takes time and work doesn’t mean one can skip it and still enjoy the benefits of it. Plus, skimping on paying taxes on earned income is not the way to move this state forward. Lastly, I’ll say that even for those receiving unemployment checks, there should be a mandatory 10 hour labor service (community service or whatever) where their skills are being utilized weekly in order to receive their checks. If you think that’s brutal, do the math. $300 for 10 hours of work equates to $30/hr. Who wouldn’t want to get paid $30/hr while looking for a job and gaining new skills? Oh yeah, those who can work 0 hrs and still get the $300. #FAIL