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
Leroy
October 10th, 2011
1:56 pm
Well it is about time that someone thought of this idea. This practice should have been in effect years and years ago. Instead of laying around watching TV and enjoying the inside elements. These prisoners should be keeping the right of way maintained as well as maintaining parks etc. Firefighting is a bad idea as they have the opportunity to case peoples home and businesses. I say put their lazy butts to work!! If they are required to work hard maybe they will have second thoughts for the future.
Pat
October 10th, 2011
1:57 pm
Okay, if you want to use caps, that is fine.
How is giving an inmate a choice to work and make money, learn something, etc, forcing them to work? Why is giving someone a choice illegal?
CazLand
October 10th, 2011
1:58 pm
yesop-kudos
Echoes
October 10th, 2011
1:58 pm
Sounds like a new form of slavery. Serving time is one thing, working in fields on behalf of wealthy land owners & private industry for nothing may not be the exact same thing but is a close relative.
Ms.Sassie
October 10th, 2011
1:59 pm
It is amazing to me that this article refers ton inmates as undeserving. Individuals in lockup are no undeserving. They are in jail to pay the price for a crime they commited. They were given their sentence by their peers or a judge. People make mistakes and they pay a price. The price is based on how severe their mistake/crime is….This does not mean they are undeserving. It is bad enough that the state of Georgia treats their inmates so poorly….they don’t feed them but one meal on the weekends….breakfast. They also don’t feed them but one meal on holidays….This practice is not right. The inmates deserve to eat just like anyone esle. It sad to me that people can be so inhumane and call it justice. Cruel and unusal punishment is a violation of a the constitution. People calling others undeserving should check themselves before judging others.
KGray
October 10th, 2011
1:59 pm
This is nothing but modern day SALVERY. People are so against illegals doing the jobs that they did for low wages and now they want prisoners to do this and I doubt this will not sit well with ACLU and the feds. There will be law suits afer law suit on this plan and then we will see how the crops will be picked. If the illegals didn’t have a problem with thier job, then why not get sponship for the workers. However, it’s the racist citizens of the state of Georgia that want allow these people who are willing to do this type of work, do the work. Why not allow them to work toward getting their citizenship. How about some of these RICH farmers sponsoring the works and allowing them an opportunity to become CITIZENS!
db
October 10th, 2011
2:03 pm
@ cazland, i understand what you are saying
bill
October 10th, 2011
2:04 pm
For those who are so quick to jump to negative conclusions, the state of Georgia has used inmates as firefighters for over 20 years, and the results have been excellent. Take time to understand the situation before throwing your biases at proposed remedies. Our state is one of the few remaining states that does not pay inmates, so those inmates who, in the past, have volunteered to become trained firefighters have done so purely as a volunteer. If you live in an area that does not have the funding required to support a firestation with paid firefighters, and your home is on fire, I feel sure that you would certainly welcome a group of trained inmates without worrying whether your jewels will be safe.
Pat
October 10th, 2011
2:05 pm
KGray, what is the difference between illegals doing this work and a minor offense criminal. They both have broken the laws and they both volunteer to do this work.
Jeremy
October 10th, 2011
2:08 pm
This story doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of prisoner slave labor in Georgia. In most states, prisoners who do any kind of work are compensated up to several dollars a day (yes, that’s right, dollar as DAY). In Georgia, that’s not the case — prisoners are not compensated for their work at all. Not only that, but the vast majority of prisoners who are able to work in Georgia are coerced into doing so. If they refuse, they lose the very few privileges they are allowed, such as going to the store for extra food and hygiene products, visitation, phone privileges, and are subject to being isolated in ‘the hole.’ Prisoners in Georgia do not receive any special privileges or parole consideration for their work, no matter how well they do. Jobs that prisoners perform including cooking meals, janitorial work, working at fire stations in rural areas, picking up trash on road crews, clearing trees to make way for roads and sewage lines, and doing work for which many county workers make $10+/hr to do. It’s time to end slave labor for prisoners in Georgia. If prisoners are forced to work, they should at least be compensated and know that their work, which saves the state, counties, and cities of Georgia millions of dollar each year, is worth something.