After watching this video, I would like to point out that it is very cruel that places will use or exploit the labor done at prisons some people may say that it’s a way to make the companies money and punish the inmates for their wrong doing but I want to disagree and say its cruel because you are forcing people to do manual labor for free and some of the labor is a lot harder than the rest is. I would also like to point out that it is dumb that the phone companies charge 15 cents per minutes and are forcing you to prepay to use their phones. Everything in todays’ prisons cost the inmates more money than they have which is forcing them to do more illegal work to pay for the items they need to survive in these prisons but also while doing the illegal work they get caught and sentenced longer and then the companies end up using the inmates for more manual labor because they are there longer. I feel that if we were to treat inmates like the people they are and not force them to pay for the stuff they need to survive or not force them to do work for nothing the inmates won’t do dangerous things in our prisons today. In other words, we need our government to take charge and help pay these prisons more money to provide for the inmates and help them be rehabilitated not force them to work for companies or force them to pay for everything in prisons because it will cause the prisoners to riot and then more people will die because of the riots or because they starve to death or kill one another for their money to pay for the things they need in the prisons. CarlBaconWho456
I agree with you in most of what you said in your post. Although I agree that the way that inmates are treated does contribute to the behavior of inmates I dont think that better treatment would eliminate all of it. There are still people in prison simply because they are violent and no matter what is done they are not going to change. With that being said I do feel it would help with bettering our prison systems and I also agree that the government should step in and take more control over these companies and private owned prisons.
I completely agree with you I was just saying regardless of the crime no one should have to go through that. They get money for housing the inmates. make profit from business with inmates work, and overcharge them and they can't even take care of the inmates. The inmates are being mistreated in this aspect because they're being put in debt. It makes it hard on family members to when individuals don't have their own source of survival. I think we should try and find another way to run prisons and why don't the private prisons have anyone coming there making sure individuals were being treated fairly. McBrightyalife456
I agree with your post, we should not have prisoners doing labor for companies that are taking full advantage of them. I do not agree that prisoners should only be paid what they are getting. As well as I do not agree with the phone service activity they have going on. We are charging prisoners double the price to be able to speak to the outside which yes they should be charged because it is a privilege but I do not agree that they should be charged that much considering their time in there is already cutting them out of the living world. I believe we need to get the people in administration to see this problem from a different eye or point of view because them thinking and enjoying this money making business they have is completely wrong. We should always be doing something to better our prisoners and making sure people stay out of the system so they can return back to a decent normal life. unknownzeeha456
I believe in the punishment should fit the crime. Prisoners get treated like animals with total disrespect. Inmates are still human beans who made bad decisions. You cant just look at a prisoner and thick that person is nuts. Things happen in life with the people you around ,making a way to survive ,etc. We live in an unjust world. You think a teen that blows weed in an old lady face goes to prison. They gave that teen 5-10yrs behind bars but 3yrs parole. Does that make an sense? The young teen is being punished for have 5 blunts with each poof he blow in this old lady face. Its just outrageous is what im saying. This teen now has to lose at least 5yrs of his life for a poor descision. Detective Stabler
In prison, we are currently holding five percent of our world’s population. We are putting these people behind bars and basically forcing them to work as our slaves. Private corporations are becoming predators within our prison laws. We are slowly seeing phone companies charging outrageous amounts of money to use a phone in our prisons. For these prisoners to earn their money it is a slow process because these inmates are only making slightly over one dollar to do what I would consider to be slave work. We are doubling the prices of things such as envelops that the prisons are making a great amount of profit on we are charging our inmates seven dollars for one hundred envelops so these people can stay in touch with their loved ones or close friends. These prisoners are working eight hours a day for not even thirty dollars a month, this making it extremely hard for them to pay their fines off so that they can be released from these prisons. As said in the video most of the people behind bars have never committed a violent crime, but are still forced to stay behind bars and do slave work. In some states, the loved ones that prisoners have lost or that are dying are only able to see them for fifteen minutes. This to me sounds very harsh and unfair. Our prisons around our county are no longer providing things such as shoes to our inmates but, yet they have to buy them making only twenty-eight dollars a month. our prisoners that are being released, are released with debt following them. I feel as if this is very unfair to a lot of our prisoners, that have not only never committed a violent crime but cannot find work outside of the prison walls to pay this debt off that they have accumulated while in prison. Thunder456
The fact the companies are allowed to use inmates as labor forces is new to me. I was unaware that this was and is even a possability for companies to do. I don't think that it is right for these companies to exploit inmates in such manners that it is almost belittling them. I think that if they are allowed to bring in their companies and use inmates as employees that at least the inmates should be compensated adiquitly. Maybe they should make less than minimum wage cause they are in prison but they should be allowed to make at least enough to survive with while in prison. They could do this with pay increases for good behavior, and if the prices in the commensaries goes up then a small gain in wages should be allowed to help cover that cost. In the video it mentions that inmates are being released with large amounts of debt that they were unable to payoff while incarsirated. How do you expect someone to begin to better themselves on the outside if you are creating them to accumilate such debt while they are locked up. Prison was originally intended for people to be rehabilitated and reintagrated back into society, not to dehumanize and belittle people. The fact that now a days it is more about keeping them locked away or setting them up to fail to come back to prison just so big corparations can make billions in profit is just not right. I fully believe that there should be some form of guidelines and rights set up for inmates so things like this do not continue to happen. As long as these companies and corparrations are allowed to run these prisons under minimal or no real guidance I feel that the problems with our corrections and the rate of people being locked away will only continue to rise and get worse.
You are correct I do not think that companies should be allowed to exploit prisoners like this. It is almost like going against the eighth amendment which states cruel and unusual punishments shall not be inflicted. I feel that making people work for just over a dollar an hour is terrible because as the video says when some are released they are in debt, which is something that should not be happening. I agree they should not be getting minimum wage but yes they are going to need to have enough so that they can live a good and healthy life. Illini456
I to did not know that inmates could be used to work for the company. I agree that these inmates should get a pay increase so that they can afford what they need wile they are locked up. i think it is wrong for these prisons to make it nearly impossible for these prisoners to get back on there feet after being released from prison by having nearly all of the inmates go into debt. once one goes into debt it is extremely hard to pull your self out of that kind of situation. i believe that we need some more guidance in our prisons so we don't have people coming back over and over again but when the inmates are set to a parole or probation hearing they are told no so that the prisons can continue to receive money for each inmate they have at the facility Thunder456
I didn't know inmates could be used for a company's benefit. The fact that they barely get paid anything you cannot constitute that as a real job.The should paid more than what they are given because they still need to take of themselves while they are serving their time. It is obvious that the prison systems and other companies only see an opportunity of free or cheap labor and they take, with no regards to the laborer's well being or needs. TJGirl456
After watching this video and hearing that twenty five percent of the prison population and five percent of the United States population is forced to work for one dollar and thirty cents an hour is ridiculous. The video said that certain products such as an envelope when bought singular is only fifteen cents yet when you buy a hundred pack of envelopes you are paying seven dollars, which was said to be more than double what you could buy one hundred single envelopes for. If the price of items like these keep going up then why is the prisoner's wages not increasing also? All these big corporations now a days all they want is money they do not care how they are getting it they just want to be paid. Since the price of certain items are going up and the wages theses companies are paying out are staying the same that is more money in the owner's pocket. Also hearing that from 1980 to now companies have only raised the wage they pay the prisoners by ten cents is not right. If these owners were good people, then the money they were making on the products and not paying to the prisoners should be put towards a rehabilitation facility for these prisoners. They should have the right to get rehab since they are only getting very little money for working anyways. Since the owners know that if they do not let the prisoners get rehab, then when the prisoner gets released he may just go back to doing the crimes that got him locked up anyway. This would then put him back into the system right where he left off and giving the owner more money and paying him very little. Which this would just keep going on and on and soon we might all be working for only one dollar and thirty cents an hour. Illini456
I would have to agree with you that it’s ridiculous that 25 percent of the prison population and five percent of the United States population is being forced to work for one dollar and thirty cents an hour at our prisons. It is also more ridiculous that prisoners have to buy products like an envelope for 15 cents but when but when you are buying them in packs of 100 it is 7 dollars and after a while that money can add up a little here a little there will make you spend all your money then you have to work a lot more to make that money back just for an envelope. CarlBaconWho456
I agree with your post because inmates are being treated very unfair and they are being set up to fail, if someone is being forced to live off of $1.30 a day how would you ever expect them to be successful? They can barely afford their basic needs and with the envelopes they are not even able to communicate with their family members. swaggyy456
I think it is utterly crazy and degrading to have inmates in prison working for only $1.30 a day. They are working eight hours a day to try and pay of their debts such as fines but just barely make enough to buy a bag a chips. Just think about all the debt you have. Think about all the hours you are working to pay it off or to even take care of yourself. Although they are in prison because they did something bad does not mean that they do not have debt, or that they aren't working to try and pay it off. Everything in prison cost money, from the phone calls to the envelopes to send off mail. And if someone is actually trying to work off their debt i believe they should get paid more than just $1.30 a day. Working at that rate they will still be in debt by time they get out of prison. And if that is the case you will find that many people go back to jail just based on the fact that they want fast cash. Prisons are making these inmates work for only $1.30 a day but won't even prove them with the most basic needs such as footwear. They make them pay for everything such as doctors, medicine and so much more. So stated in the video you see so much more inmates getting out of prison with possibly more debt than what they had before. Prions are basically treating inmates as slaves. Making them work long hours for little to nothing. Not giving them the things they need but rather making them buy them and become more in debt. I strongly believe that this should change. Latte456
I completely agree with your post. It's so unfair and sickening that their getting paid $1.30 for eight ours a day. You is right that's not enough to survive prison. They already have to pay fines and their in debt so why treat them this way. Another thing is you is right about them not providing the basic needs for the inmates which is unfair and they should. These big cooperation's are only in it for the money they don't care about these inmates one bit all they is worrying about setting these high prices knowing they can barely afford it. They're just treating these prisoners like slave and I completely agree with you that they need to put a stop to this and change. savage456
I would do agree that it is ridiculous that inmates earn $1.30 a day for manual labor. I do believe that they should be paid more for working 8 hours a day, not to make it as additional punishment for them. It is true that they are in prison for some bad thing that they did, it does not mean they don’t have any debt. Hearing that this private prison does not provide them their basic needs makes me wonder where does the tax payer’s money go? This prison labor is turning into slavery. Even when they try to work at a faster rate they still earn the same, they will be in debt by the time they get out of prison. -M.Scott456
Prison labor should be viewed as slavery, just because their in jail their rights shouldn't be part of the punishment for the crimes the individual committed. The fact that their not really paid a lot is an issue but not as big as mass incarceration and sentencing. Safety requirements should at least be required in the working environments if they're going to pay them low income they should at least do that. If it is seen as an issue why is it not being addressed. This is kind of similar to what Doctor white discussed in class about females in jail that may not be able to afford feminine products, and eventually sell their body in return for the products. I think its a human rights issue because if Prisons get all this money to take care of prisoners why don't they actually do it. The reason prison poverty isn't fair is because they already have fines they'll have to pay once they get out. It also isn't fair because they get low income , and the things they need to survive in Prison is overcharged. They kind of cause issues within their own prison to because if a criminal doesn't get what they want or need they going to commit a crime in jail, whether they get caught or not. I also don't think its fair they aren't allowing inmates to see their family members. This also affects the Prison because it builds tension in the jail. I think regulations and laws for incarceration, as well as sentencing guidelines should be reviewed and updated. McBrightyalife456
It is slavery, it says so in the Thirteenth Amendment. It's just legalized slavery, is all. It's just like how our license plates are made by prisoners. Exactly the same, the only difference is instead of working for the benefit of society, prisoners are working for the benefit of a private entity. Again, the problem isn't with the actual companies, it's because of us as citizens of a country. We've blindly allowed this to happen, because we don't care about what goes on in our government. That's one of the downfalls of capitalism, in my opinion, is the aspect of materialism that comes with it. Capitalism is great, just look at our economy and living conditions as compared to the economy of North Korea, which is a command economy. Back to materialism, though, there are tons of distractions from what goes on in the world today. It's very easy to become engulfed in this and sort of isolate yourself, as far as being informed goes, from the rest of the world. This allows the things which happen to happen. Don't get me wrong, I like my material objects just as much as anyone else. It's just that the societies of all countries need to make more of an effort to be informed and involved within it's own form of government, whatever it may be.
I think that the prisons shouldn't be allowed to do this to prisoners who are already suffering from missing loved ones and being in confinement. I know people wouldn't want their loved ones mistreated not even in jail. They open the chances of future law suits and legal action being made. It will eventually get to the right judge. McBrightyalife456
I think is crazy how they make the prisoners work for about $1.30 and they are still expected to buy their basic needs. If they can't afford to get the things they need they have to take out a loan to get them. What makes this even more crazy is when they finish their sentence if they can not pay the loan they have to go back to prison, regardless of the fact that their time is served. this is a cruel way to make money simply because it's causing someone else to go into debt and it's robbing them of the freedom they earned. Another thing that got me at the end was when they said that a lot of the inmates did not want their families to come visit because how the families where treated. I get that the family member is in prison for wrong doing but that is no reason their family members should be treated badly. They treat the families as if they are the ones serving the time. These private prisons should be closed down simply because you cannot treat a person or people bad for so long and expect them not fight back. At the rate of arrest an incarceration the inmates will out number the guards and can and will start a riot if they wanted to.On a less violent note they could petition the court with complaint of the living conditions and treatment and if they really want change they will not stop until their standards are met. TJGirl456
To start off with, there is a lot of information in this video that I unfortunately did not know. I feel that prisoners, regardless of what crime they committed, deserves to be treated like a human. I understand that big companies want to take advantage of this labor, but it is not fair to the prisoners in any way. Of course a prisoner is in prison for a reason, but for them to have to pay so much for the little amount of money they make is ridiculous. I am sure that is how the government makes a majority of their money and it is not right, in my opinion. To have to spend 15 cents for a minute to talk on the phone in itself says it all. The government does not need to be charging this much for a phone call, envelopes, or sandals that prisoners need. The government should be trying to help these prisoners, so that when they leave they will not end up back in prison. The prison rate is already high enough and they are being overpopulated by prisoners who have not done severe crimes such as murders. The fact that when they leave, they will most likely be in debt from having to buy the implements that they NEED to have while in prison. The government is doing themselves a favor by making the money they need by these people who can barely afford to call a loved one. I feel that the government wants these prisoners to stay there just so they can make the money they want to be making. They are setting these prisoners up for failure. As soon as they leave the prison, they will more than likely end up back in there, and again that is not fair for them, regardless of the crime. I feel that by the time a prisoner gets to leave the prison property, for the most part, they have changed. Nighttrain456
I'm with you on the fact that I didn't know about any of this stuff either and it bothers me that until now I have never heard about it. It's silly how the government is literally setting these people up for failure. I also agree with you that yes, these people have committed crimes and deserve punishment but this is going to far. I don't like criminal coddling but I also don't condemning somebody who made a mistake to this cycle of going in an out of prison because you can't pay off the debts you built up just trying to survive in prison. -CoffeeAddict456
Firstly, I don't trust RT and the claims they make. Throughout the entire video, neither of them stated their sources, the sources aren't listed in the video description, I even went as far as to find the article which the video was based on and there aren't any sources listed for it either. If you do read the actual article he wrote, there's a little disclaimer at the bottom of it that states that two sentences have been removed for being false. There's a part in the video where he says "...we have corporations and the lobbyists for those corporations writing these draconian laws to keep people locked behind bars...". He's referring to the section of his article where he claimed that the Corrections Corporation of America lobbies legislators to impose harsher detention laws at both state and federal levels. He also implied that the CCA helped the American Legislative Exchange Council draft Arizona's Senate Bill 1070. It was later revealed by both the CCA and NPR that the CCA only held a non-voting membership in ALEC to monitor policy trends and developments, and that it ended that membership in 2010. Furthermore, even if everything Hedges claimed is true and on the scale that he implies, it's still constitutional under the Thirteenth Amendment. The Thirteenth Amendment reads as follows: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." That means that it's still legal for private prison companies to force prisoners to work for little to no benefit. I'm not defending the private prisons in our country. I think that corrections shouldn't be privatized, it's a government service and should remain that way. I think, though, that the problem isn't with a few greedy mega-corporations who just want to make tons of money off of the backs of others. I think that, as I've previously stated, this is a societal failure. Society isn't concerned with such nowadays. It's our government, regardless of whichever orange-faced ape leads it, we still ultimately control it. We have the ability to change this, and yet, we don't. That's why this is our fault, and not the fault of the companies who have their hands in this.
Unfortunately we do live in a society that does not fact check except when it comes to the presidential election, then we are gun hoe about it. We live in a society that we believe everything that the internet tells us, we believe every two minute video we see instead of looking for the actual footage. We live our lives with one point of view instead of looking at others point of view. We see everything differently. We turn a blind eye to the laws and what's being done because we don't get involved. Yes, we need to have the proper research in our hands before we speak. ~myhearseisnotafuneralcar456~
After watching this video i think it’s crazy how they are using the inmates to do labor forces. It’s even crazier that their working for $1.30 a day. Like what can they really do with that and they have to pay fines and debts and the other costly things they have in there. Another thing that go to me in the beginning of the video is when he said “debt can seen people back to prison even if you serve your time. How is that fair? Why can’t they help them outside of prison to help get their debt pay off. It’s also crazy how the commissary have risen that high. It’s not fair to be doubling the prices of the things in the prisons they need and they only working eight hours a day and get paid only $1.30 . The fact that they know it will take forever for the prisoners to pay them fines off is very sickening. It’s crazy how they are being locked up are these years for non violent crimes. Now and days these big corporations don’t care for these inmates all they care about is the money and it’s sad. Lastly, that the prisons are not providing the basic items so then they have to spend money they don’t even have or even get a loan. I hate the fact that they are not providing doctoring, medicines and legal copies. To conclude this entire video was disturbing these big corporations and private prisons need to change their ways of doing these or it's gonna get worse. savage456
After watching this video I was very shocked and thrown off because they were using the inmates and forcing them to do labor work. The reason I was so shocked is because the inmates were doing a lot of work just to make $1.30 and the owners of the prison expects inmates to be able to live off of this $1.30 which is pretty much impossible and miserable that they have to live like that. Another thing that threw me off was the fact that we know prisons are becoming overcapacity and we still send prisoners back to prison for being in debt pretty much while in prison. It would take the prisoner years to pay all that money back therefore why even put them in an unfair position like that where they are being set up to fail. As a system we want everyone to get better while in prison in order to protect people outside the prison and make sure inmates when they get out they do not commit another crime. We should not set a prisoner up to fail when they are released because they could begin to commit the crimes they committed before. It bothers me that prisons do not provide inmates with proper healthcare. I understand that they do not deserve the best healthcare but they do deserve some healthcare that helps them to get better and not cheap healthcare or no attention at all. Like I stated before I feel this way because as a system we want to help, serve, and protect people and the best way we can do this is to remember everyone is human and if we treat humans like animals they will act in that way. The overall video just made me kind of angry and sick. swaggyy456
People in prison make dirt money, as they work the same hours as most Americans that have normal lives; eight hours a day. Although, they have to pay outrageous prices for everything they need and takes forever to pay off their fines.
Prisoners are forced into labor. Most military needs are made into federal prisons, but not only military needs are. Many corporations are put inside prison walls for prison to work on their needs since it is extremely profitable. Which as the guy in the video said, is the issue. Many prisoners are put in their for decades and put to work, is that a reason why we throw so many people in cells?
In 1980 prisoners were put to work for eight hours a day and paid for $1.20. Nearly forty years later, and they pay them ten cents more, $1.30. How do we expect them to pay off their fines? Well I assume it's none of our problem, they can figure it out themselves, right? Well we aren't giving them the opportunity, because we are sick! Sure, people are put in there for terrible crimes. But there are also individuals in there put in there for petty crimes. Why don't we change things around? Why don't we continue to pay the low life rapists $1.30, but the petty crime makers more? Why can't we do that? We can, but we aren't.
There are so many outrageous, disgusting and extremely disappointing facts that I have learned from this video. The one that bothered me the most is that the prisoners have loved ones that may have died, or are dying. They get fifteen minutes to go see and spend time with them. Those fifteen minutes cost them $900, so like the video states, lets just imagine how long it takes for them to save up all of that money if they get paid $1.30 for eight hours. They may take them six months to even earn that money. But because of all their others needs, and the prices of those, they will have a difficult time saving things.
America is doing a terrible, no good job at handling their convicts. They need to do better. But it took them nearly 40 years to raise ten cents of payment for the prisoners, so lets just wait another 40 years to exhale on it all. Rugby_456
I agree with all the points you've made. The one that hit me the hardest too was the fact that if they have a loved one who died or is dying it costs them hundreds of dollars for what is bound to feel like no time at all. For some of those inmates it's impossible to save up that type of money if you include any necessities they need to buy along with trying to save up. And if it's a sudden death, you're just screwed, honestly. One of the other points you made that I agree with is that we can go ahead and pay rapists and murderers the $1.30 or not allow them to have jobs at all but we need to change things and give workers who may be in for petty crimes a wage that is practically nothing. Xielxs456
After watching this video and hearing that we have twenty five percent of the worlds prison population and the United States is five percent of the world’s population. Some of those five percent are being paid a dollar and thirty cents a day, and those people are the prisoners. It is inhumane that companies and private corporations are exploiting prisoners to make a profit. How is that even allowed to happen is my whole question to myself. Those prisoners are being forced to work for a dollar and thirty cents a day and if they are ever disruptive to others they are being isolated. What bothers me is that these prisoners do hard labor and earn twenty-eight dollars a month to save to pay for their fines and to buy their basic needs like footwear that cost more than their monthly earning. And if they can’t afford it they must take a loan for them to get their necessities, also to pay to visit a doctor and for medicine. Then once they are released from the prison and they still owe on their loan and can’t pay it off because they don’t have a job then they go right back in prison. I thought that, as tax payers, our money goes in there, but to me it doesn’t sounds like it does. We put inmates in prison to be rehabilitated for what they did so they can be reintegrated back into society, not to dehumanize them. These private prisons all they want is to make a profit and they do not even care if the inmates are earning enough to suit their needs. On my own opinion, prisons and companies who profit from them are treating the inmates as slaves, to work long hours for almost nothing. I believe change in sentencing, laws, and regulations around the prison system must change to make changes and improvement. -M.Scott456
It's no secret that the prisons and jails in the United States treat their prisoners like they're less than human. Sure, prisons all over the world treat their inmates terribly but you'd think the United States wouldn't be as awful as they are. Our prisons may not bad in the same types of ways others are but this video really made me think about how little our prisoners get. I think it's awful that our prisoners are earning about one dollar and thirty cents a day for working eight hour days like most working civilians. A dollar thirty a day is nothing, just nothing. In forty years our facilities have managed to make the pay wage for inmates go up ten cents, just ten cents, while the pay wage for nearly any other job has gone up tremendously in forty years. In the video they mentioned how items in the commissary have practically doubled but how much inmates earn has barely moved. There are inmates who work in prison who, when they are released, if they are released, will only have that money they made while doing their job in prison. There's absolutely no way that inmate could survive long at all on barely any money. I think the saddest part about this is that these jobs for prisoners exist because facilities don't want to have to hire civilians and pay them an actual wage. It's just a way for these facilities to make and save money. I don't think that it's a bad thing that prisoners have the opportunities to have jobs, I think it's great actually, they learn work ethic and skills that can be useful after they are released but I think that it's time our prisons and jails pay their workers a wage that's more than a couple of quarters a day, even if these workers are inmates they're still people putting hard work into making sure these places run smoothly.
I agree with how little our prisoners get and how they treated less than a human. Every human has rights and does not deserve to get treated that way NO MATTER what crime they committed. Kind of thinking about it this way, could a human survive in the real world making a $1.30 a day? No. So why making the inmates suffer that much. I understand that they are in prison, but to talk to a loved one, buy a bag of chips or something to drink is way more than a $1.30. Prisons should have programs, so they get more job opportunities. -Bears456
Clearly, I did not know ninety none percent of the information that was mentioned in this video, but the one thing that got me the most was working for a $1.30 a day. I was also thrown off about how they enforce labor work. How can you pay off anything you have while only making $1.30 a day in manual labor? Everyone wants inmates not to come back, but only making that much a day will not only take forever to pay anything, but once they are finally out the will have nothing. In Illinois, to rent a property you have to be making at least 13 dollars an hour to be able to afford it, so how come these inmates only get a $1.30? Working for that much is basically being a slave. Also, the fact that the inmates have to pay 0.15 cents a minute to talk on the phone is outrageous. Since they are only getting paid $1.30 a day that equals up to six minutes on the phone call. I get that they are in there for a reason, but to get treated like they are a human. Being treated like slaves once again. No one should have to go through that and definitely do not wish it upon anyone. I actually feel bad for them to a certain extent. States and the government need to help out these prisoners and not like them be dehumanized and being treated like they are some kind of animal. It also just comes to show that is it cruel and unusual punishment, which is wrong on so many levels. I bet you this is one of the reasons riots start to happen because of the money. -Bears456
I feel like we have really lost sight of what prison was originally meant for. It's not an organization to make money off of and how did that ever become an idea? I think a bunch of people saw in opportunity to make a quick buck by essentially demanding slave labor from these inmates and they thought either nobody would notice or care because their prison inmates. How does this not count as cruel and unusual punishment? Forcing prisoners to rack up debt just to survive and then send them back to prison when they cannot pay off their debt? It's a cycle that keeps people going back to prison for one mistake they made and it defeats the original purpose of prison. I'm just really surprised about this I always thought of prisons as very straight forward things. You commit a crime and you go to prison for a few years as punishment and while in prison your are given things to fulfill your basic living needs like food, clothes, hygiene and then when you have served your time you get out and hopefully learned your lesson. When did it become about making money and recycling prison inmates? Now If I'm being honest these things I'm saying only apply to those who haven't committed violent crimes and people who haven't committed serious crimes that severely hurt other individuals. -CoffeeAddict456
$7.00 for a box of envelopes, $900 to be able to see a deceased loved one $1.20 for eight hours of work? The prison is literally set up to put these inmates in debt. How can you give a loan to someone that you know won't be able to pay off. Seriously I used to give out loans to people, I had to follow a company policy that we had to look at the persons bank statements and pay stub to insure that we could loan them a certain amount of money and that they would be able to pay a loan off. Also families coming to visit should not have to be treated as a prisoner they should not have to feel humiliated or embarrassed because of someones mistake. They should be able to speak with their family without a crazy charge to talk to some one on the phone. How can we pay someone as if we are in the 1900's for work but yet over charge for little things and charge a stupid amount to see a loved one who has passed. How can we re-imprison someone for a debt that they couldn't pay off in the first place only to make more debt for that person. The system is broke it really is. When they are released They have no job, no place to live they have nothing. How are they going to get money? the same way they did before theft, slinging drugs. etc . ~myhearseisnotafuneralcar456~
I simply enjoy watching these videos because I learn something new every time. You can talk to anyone thats been to prison but they never speak in my case on the scenes behind their experience. I have never looked at a prison system different till now. I found it interesting that we have people behind bars due to the crimes they committed that if they have the privilege to see people out side of prison, that its a constant battle. Just to get a visitor rather its someone local or far away from home its costing them a ridiculous amount for what its worth. Their families are basically a prisoner themselves for that visiting time. You have families waiting outside in different weather conditions, they have no restroom if needed, they pay a fee at times, they pay a phone fee if its not an option for a face to face visit, and still the prisoner is being punished just for those couple minutes. Prisoners also have a option at times when it comes to seeing someone for the last term as if their parents were dying and it cost them 900 dollars just for that time they get for a time that can never be replaced. If we make our prisoners pay that kind of money then I think we have something going wrong in the system because most prisoners do not have that kind of money in a account and usually family or friends do not support them with that much money while they are in there. We charge prisoners for phone calls which can be different on the cost just depends your location but we also have phone companies at prisons that you can buy a package deal for a 10 dollar card but the company will charge 3 dollars and to me that is not a deal especially when its doubled priced. Most prisoners work 8 hour days if they get the opportunity to and when working 8 hours a day they get $1.30 for their work says the video. From my feelings, I do not feel that is right. I'm not sure how any inmate that has no support system from the outside would be able to get the things they need for hygiene or simply stuff for personal needs off that pay. We also have corporations that have made themselves into the prison for cheaper work to be done. These corporations now that their workers will always want to work for the money, be on time to work, they don't have to pay benefits into them, and that if they don't want to work then they are punished, yet they pay them $1.30 a day for the work when they are make triple the money off of them if not more. Most our prisoners have a chance of leaving the facility in debt. When a prisoner leaves with debt they have a high chance of returning because when they get on the outside they have no support let alone can barely find a job to help support them and pay off their fines. We have Prison administration in most prisons that are completely okay with that, and to me that is not okay. But for them its okay because it goes back to the revolving door method. As long as they have the revolving door then they are making money and to them I feel like that's all the matters. unknownzeeha456
As someone who plans to endure a career in federal corrections, I am disgusted by any form of private prisons. Prison is a place for punishment and rehabilitation. Federal prisons are not a place of buisness, they are not built for profit. As if the money that private prisons get per prisoner is not enough, they also charge extremely outrageous prices for general things that cost next to nothing in the real world. Beside that, the federal government has a minimum wage of a little over seven dollars, yet these people are getting paid $1.30 an hour? That is ridiculous. How can you even justify treating someone like that. That seems close to cruel and unusual punishment, which our government protects against. LowAndSlow456
After watching this video, I would like to point out that it is very cruel that places will use or exploit the labor done at prisons some people may say that it’s a way to make the companies money and punish the inmates for their wrong doing but I want to disagree and say its cruel because you are forcing people to do manual labor for free and some of the labor is a lot harder than the rest is. I would also like to point out that it is dumb that the phone companies charge 15 cents per minutes and are forcing you to prepay to use their phones. Everything in todays’ prisons cost the inmates more money than they have which is forcing them to do more illegal work to pay for the items they need to survive in these prisons but also while doing the illegal work they get caught and sentenced longer and then the companies end up using the inmates for more manual labor because they are there longer. I feel that if we were to treat inmates like the people they are and not force them to pay for the stuff they need to survive or not force them to do work for nothing the inmates won’t do dangerous things in our prisons today. In other words, we need our government to take charge and help pay these prisons more money to provide for the inmates and help them be rehabilitated not force them to work for companies or force them to pay for everything in prisons because it will cause the prisoners to riot and then more people will die because of the riots or because they starve to death or kill one another for their money to pay for the things they need in the prisons.
ReplyDeleteCarlBaconWho456
I agree with you in most of what you said in your post. Although I agree that the way that inmates are treated does contribute to the behavior of inmates I dont think that better treatment would eliminate all of it. There are still people in prison simply because they are violent and no matter what is done they are not going to change. With that being said I do feel it would help with bettering our prison systems and I also agree that the government should step in and take more control over these companies and private owned prisons.
DeleteCountry456
I completely agree with you I was just saying regardless of the crime no one should have to go through that. They get money for housing the inmates. make profit from business with inmates work, and overcharge them and they can't even take care of the inmates. The inmates are being mistreated in this aspect because they're being put in debt. It makes it hard on family members to when individuals don't have their own source of survival. I think we should try and find another way to run prisons and why don't the private prisons have anyone coming there making sure individuals were being treated fairly. McBrightyalife456
DeleteI agree with your post, we should not have prisoners doing labor for companies that are taking full advantage of them. I do not agree that prisoners should only be paid what they are getting. As well as I do not agree with the phone service activity they have going on. We are charging prisoners double the price to be able to speak to the outside which yes they should be charged because it is a privilege but I do not agree that they should be charged that much considering their time in there is already cutting them out of the living world. I believe we need to get the people in administration to see this problem from a different eye or point of view because them thinking and enjoying this money making business they have is completely wrong. We should always be doing something to better our prisoners and making sure people stay out of the system so they can return back to a decent normal life.
Deleteunknownzeeha456
I believe in the punishment should fit the crime. Prisoners get treated like animals with total disrespect. Inmates are still human beans who made bad decisions. You cant just look at a prisoner and thick that person is nuts. Things happen in life with the people you around ,making a way to survive ,etc. We live in an unjust world. You think a teen that blows weed in an old lady face goes to prison. They gave that teen 5-10yrs behind bars but 3yrs parole. Does that make an sense? The young teen is being punished for have 5 blunts with each poof he blow in this old lady face. Its just outrageous is what im saying. This teen now has to lose at least 5yrs of his life for a poor descision.
DeleteDetective Stabler
In prison, we are currently holding five percent of our world’s population. We are putting these people behind bars and basically forcing them to work as our slaves. Private corporations are becoming predators within our prison laws. We are slowly seeing phone companies charging outrageous amounts of money to use a phone in our prisons. For these prisoners to earn their money it is a slow process because these inmates are only making slightly over one dollar to do what I would consider to be slave work. We are doubling the prices of things such as envelops that the prisons are making a great amount of profit on we are charging our inmates seven dollars for one hundred envelops so these people can stay in touch with their loved ones or close friends. These prisoners are working eight hours a day for not even thirty dollars a month, this making it extremely hard for them to pay their fines off so that they can be released from these prisons. As said in the video most of the people behind bars have never committed a violent crime, but are still forced to stay behind bars and do slave work. In some states, the loved ones that prisoners have lost or that are dying are only able to see them for fifteen minutes. This to me sounds very harsh and unfair. Our prisons around our county are no longer providing things such as shoes to our inmates but, yet they have to buy them making only twenty-eight dollars a month. our prisoners that are being released, are released with debt following them. I feel as if this is very unfair to a lot of our prisoners, that have not only never committed a violent crime but cannot find work outside of the prison walls to pay this debt off that they have accumulated while in prison.
ReplyDeleteThunder456
The fact the companies are allowed to use inmates as labor forces is new to me. I was unaware that this was and is even a possability for companies to do. I don't think that it is right for these companies to exploit inmates in such manners that it is almost belittling them. I think that if they are allowed to bring in their companies and use inmates as employees that at least the inmates should be compensated adiquitly. Maybe they should make less than minimum wage cause they are in prison but they should be allowed to make at least enough to survive with while in prison. They could do this with pay increases for good behavior, and if the prices in the commensaries goes up then a small gain in wages should be allowed to help cover that cost. In the video it mentions that inmates are being released with large amounts of debt that they were unable to payoff while incarsirated. How do you expect someone to begin to better themselves on the outside if you are creating them to accumilate such debt while they are locked up. Prison was originally intended for people to be rehabilitated and reintagrated back into society, not to dehumanize and belittle people. The fact that now a days it is more about keeping them locked away or setting them up to fail to come back to prison just so big corparations can make billions in profit is just not right. I fully believe that there should be some form of guidelines and rights set up for inmates so things like this do not continue to happen. As long as these companies and corparrations are allowed to run these prisons under minimal or no real guidance I feel that the problems with our corrections and the rate of people being locked away will only continue to rise and get worse.
ReplyDeleteCountry456
You are correct I do not think that companies should be allowed to exploit prisoners like this. It is almost like going against the eighth amendment which states cruel and unusual punishments shall not be inflicted. I feel that making people work for just over a dollar an hour is terrible because as the video says when some are released they are in debt, which is something that should not be happening. I agree they should not be getting minimum wage but yes they are going to need to have enough so that they can live a good and healthy life.
DeleteIllini456
I to did not know that inmates could be used to work for the company. I agree that these inmates should get a pay increase so that they can afford what they need wile they are locked up. i think it is wrong for these prisons to make it nearly impossible for these prisoners to get back on there feet after being released from prison by having nearly all of the inmates go into debt. once one goes into debt it is extremely hard to pull your self out of that kind of situation. i believe that we need some more guidance in our prisons so we don't have people coming back over and over again but when the inmates are set to a parole or probation hearing they are told no so that the prisons can continue to receive money for each inmate they have at the facility
DeleteThunder456
I didn't know inmates could be used for a company's benefit. The fact that they barely get paid anything you cannot constitute that as a real job.The should paid more than what they are given because they still need to take of themselves while they are serving their time. It is obvious that the prison systems and other companies only see an opportunity of free or cheap labor and they take, with no regards to the laborer's well being or needs.
DeleteTJGirl456
After watching this video and hearing that twenty five percent of the prison population and five percent of the United States population is forced to work for one dollar and thirty cents an hour is ridiculous. The video said that certain products such as an envelope when bought singular is only fifteen cents yet when you buy a hundred pack of envelopes you are paying seven dollars, which was said to be more than double what you could buy one hundred single envelopes for. If the price of items like these keep going up then why is the prisoner's wages not increasing also? All these big corporations now a days all they want is money they do not care how they are getting it they just want to be paid. Since the price of certain items are going up and the wages theses companies are paying out are staying the same that is more money in the owner's pocket. Also hearing that from 1980 to now companies have only raised the wage they pay the prisoners by ten cents is not right. If these owners were good people, then the money they were making on the products and not paying to the prisoners should be put towards a rehabilitation facility for these prisoners. They should have the right to get rehab since they are only getting very little money for working anyways. Since the owners know that if they do not let the prisoners get rehab, then when the prisoner gets released he may just go back to doing the crimes that got him locked up anyway. This would then put him back into the system right where he left off and giving the owner more money and paying him very little. Which this would just keep going on and on and soon we might all be working for only one dollar and thirty cents an hour.
ReplyDeleteIllini456
I would have to agree with you that it’s ridiculous that 25 percent of the prison population and five percent of the United States population is being forced to work for one dollar and thirty cents an hour at our prisons. It is also more ridiculous that prisoners have to buy products like an envelope for 15 cents but when but when you are buying them in packs of 100 it is 7 dollars and after a while that money can add up a little here a little there will make you spend all your money then you have to work a lot more to make that money back just for an envelope.
DeleteCarlBaconWho456
I agree with your post because inmates are being treated very unfair and they are being set up to fail, if someone is being forced to live off of $1.30 a day how would you ever expect them to be successful? They can barely afford their basic needs and with the envelopes they are not even able to communicate with their family members.
Deleteswaggyy456
I think it is utterly crazy and degrading to have inmates in prison working for only $1.30 a day. They are working eight hours a day to try and pay of their debts such as fines but just barely make enough to buy a bag a chips. Just think about all the debt you have. Think about all the hours you are working to pay it off or to even take care of yourself. Although they are in prison because they did something bad does not mean that they do not have debt, or that they aren't working to try and pay it off. Everything in prison cost money, from the phone calls to the envelopes to send off mail. And if someone is actually trying to work off their debt i believe they should get paid more than just $1.30 a day. Working at that rate they will still be in debt by time they get out of prison. And if that is the case you will find that many people go back to jail just based on the fact that they want fast cash. Prisons are making these inmates work for only $1.30 a day but won't even prove them with the most basic needs such as footwear. They make them pay for everything such as doctors, medicine and so much more. So stated in the video you see so much more inmates getting out of prison with possibly more debt than what they had before. Prions are basically treating inmates as slaves. Making them work long hours for little to nothing. Not giving them the things they need but rather making them buy them and become more in debt. I strongly believe that this should change. Latte456
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your post. It's so unfair and sickening that their getting paid $1.30 for eight ours a day. You is right that's not enough to survive prison. They already have to pay fines and their in debt so why treat them this way. Another thing is you is right about them not providing the basic needs for the inmates which is unfair and they should. These big cooperation's are only in it for the money they don't care about these inmates one bit all they is worrying about setting these high prices knowing they can barely afford it. They're just treating these prisoners like slave and I completely agree with you that they need to put a stop to this and change. savage456
DeleteI would do agree that it is ridiculous that inmates earn $1.30 a day for manual labor. I do believe that they should be paid more for working 8 hours a day, not to make it as additional punishment for them. It is true that they are in prison for some bad thing that they did, it does not mean they don’t have any debt. Hearing that this private prison does not provide them their basic needs makes me wonder where does the tax payer’s money go? This prison labor is turning into slavery. Even when they try to work at a faster rate they still earn the same, they will be in debt by the time they get out of prison. -M.Scott456
DeletePrison labor should be viewed as slavery, just because their in jail their rights shouldn't be part of the punishment for the crimes the individual committed. The fact that their not really paid a lot is an issue but not as big as mass incarceration and sentencing. Safety requirements should at least be required in the working environments if they're going to pay them low income they should at least do that. If it is seen as an issue why is it not being addressed. This is kind of similar to what Doctor white discussed in class about females in jail that may not be able to afford feminine products, and eventually sell their body in return for the products. I think its a human rights issue because if Prisons get all this money to take care of prisoners why don't they actually do it. The reason prison poverty isn't fair is because they already have fines they'll have to pay once they get out. It also isn't fair because they get low income , and the things they need to survive in Prison is overcharged. They kind of cause issues within their own prison to because if a criminal doesn't get what they want or need they going to commit a crime in jail, whether they get caught or not. I also don't think its fair they aren't allowing inmates to see their family members. This also affects the Prison because it builds tension in the jail. I think regulations and laws for incarceration, as well as sentencing guidelines should be reviewed and updated. McBrightyalife456
ReplyDeleteIt is slavery, it says so in the Thirteenth Amendment. It's just legalized slavery, is all. It's just like how our license plates are made by prisoners. Exactly the same, the only difference is instead of working for the benefit of society, prisoners are working for the benefit of a private entity. Again, the problem isn't with the actual companies, it's because of us as citizens of a country. We've blindly allowed this to happen, because we don't care about what goes on in our government. That's one of the downfalls of capitalism, in my opinion, is the aspect of materialism that comes with it. Capitalism is great, just look at our economy and living conditions as compared to the economy of North Korea, which is a command economy. Back to materialism, though, there are tons of distractions from what goes on in the world today. It's very easy to become engulfed in this and sort of isolate yourself, as far as being informed goes, from the rest of the world. This allows the things which happen to happen. Don't get me wrong, I like my material objects just as much as anyone else. It's just that the societies of all countries need to make more of an effort to be informed and involved within it's own form of government, whatever it may be.
Delete-TheTurk456
I think that the prisons shouldn't be allowed to do this to prisoners who are already suffering from missing loved ones and being in confinement. I know people wouldn't want their loved ones mistreated not even in jail. They open the chances of future law suits and legal action being made. It will eventually get to the right judge. McBrightyalife456
DeleteI think is crazy how they make the prisoners work for about $1.30 and they are still expected to buy their basic needs. If they can't afford to get the things they need they have to take out a loan to get them. What makes this even more crazy is when they finish their sentence if they can not pay the loan they have to go back to prison, regardless of the fact that their time is served. this is a cruel way to make money simply because it's causing someone else to go into debt and it's robbing them of the freedom they earned. Another thing that got me at the end was when they said that a lot of the inmates did not want their families to come visit because how the families where treated. I get that the family member is in prison for wrong doing but that is no reason their family members should be treated badly. They treat the families as if they are the ones serving the time. These private prisons should be closed down simply because you cannot treat a person or people bad for so long and expect them not fight back. At the rate of arrest an incarceration the inmates will out number the guards and can and will start a riot if they wanted to.On a less violent note they could petition the court with complaint of the living conditions and treatment and if they really want change they will not stop until their standards are met.
ReplyDeleteTJGirl456
To start off with, there is a lot of information in this video that I unfortunately did not know. I feel that prisoners, regardless of what crime they committed, deserves to be treated like a human. I understand that big companies want to take advantage of this labor, but it is not fair to the prisoners in any way. Of course a prisoner is in prison for a reason, but for them to have to pay so much for the little amount of money they make is ridiculous. I am sure that is how the government makes a majority of their money and it is not right, in my opinion. To have to spend 15 cents for a minute to talk on the phone in itself says it all. The government does not need to be charging this much for a phone call, envelopes, or sandals that prisoners need. The government should be trying to help these prisoners, so that when they leave they will not end up back in prison. The prison rate is already high enough and they are being overpopulated by prisoners who have not done severe crimes such as murders. The fact that when they leave, they will most likely be in debt from having to buy the implements that they NEED to have while in prison. The government is doing themselves a favor by making the money they need by these people who can barely afford to call a loved one. I feel that the government wants these prisoners to stay there just so they can make the money they want to be making. They are setting these prisoners up for failure. As soon as they leave the prison, they will more than likely end up back in there, and again that is not fair for them, regardless of the crime. I feel that by the time a prisoner gets to leave the prison property, for the most part, they have changed. Nighttrain456
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the fact that I didn't know about any of this stuff either and it bothers me that until now I have never heard about it. It's silly how the government is literally setting these people up for failure. I also agree with you that yes, these people have committed crimes and deserve punishment but this is going to far. I don't like criminal coddling but I also don't condemning somebody who made a mistake to this cycle of going in an out of prison because you can't pay off the debts you built up just trying to survive in prison.
Delete-CoffeeAddict456
Firstly, I don't trust RT and the claims they make. Throughout the entire video, neither of them stated their sources, the sources aren't listed in the video description, I even went as far as to find the article which the video was based on and there aren't any sources listed for it either. If you do read the actual article he wrote, there's a little disclaimer at the bottom of it that states that two sentences have been removed for being false. There's a part in the video where he says "...we have corporations and the lobbyists for those corporations writing these draconian laws to keep people locked behind bars...". He's referring to the section of his article where he claimed that the Corrections Corporation of America lobbies legislators to impose harsher detention laws at both state and federal levels. He also implied that the CCA helped the American Legislative Exchange Council draft Arizona's Senate Bill 1070. It was later revealed by both the CCA and NPR that the CCA only held a non-voting membership in ALEC to monitor policy trends and developments, and that it ended that membership in 2010. Furthermore, even if everything Hedges claimed is true and on the scale that he implies, it's still constitutional under the Thirteenth Amendment. The Thirteenth Amendment reads as follows: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." That means that it's still legal for private prison companies to force prisoners to work for little to no benefit. I'm not defending the private prisons in our country. I think that corrections shouldn't be privatized, it's a government service and should remain that way. I think, though, that the problem isn't with a few greedy mega-corporations who just want to make tons of money off of the backs of others. I think that, as I've previously stated, this is a societal failure. Society isn't concerned with such nowadays. It's our government, regardless of whichever orange-faced ape leads it, we still ultimately control it. We have the ability to change this, and yet, we don't. That's why this is our fault, and not the fault of the companies who have their hands in this.
ReplyDelete-TheTurk456
Unfortunately we do live in a society that does not fact check except when it comes to the presidential election, then we are gun hoe about it. We live in a society that we believe everything that the internet tells us, we believe every two minute video we see instead of looking for the actual footage. We live our lives with one point of view instead of looking at others point of view. We see everything differently. We turn a blind eye to the laws and what's being done because we don't get involved. Yes, we need to have the proper research in our hands before we speak. ~myhearseisnotafuneralcar456~
DeleteAfter watching this video i think it’s crazy how they are using the inmates to do labor forces. It’s even crazier that their working for $1.30 a day. Like what can they really do with that and they have to pay fines and debts and the other costly things they have in there. Another thing that go to me in the beginning of the video is when he said “debt can seen people back to prison even if you serve your time. How is that fair? Why can’t they help them outside of prison to help get their debt pay off. It’s also crazy how the commissary have risen that high. It’s not fair to be doubling the prices of the things in the prisons they need and they only working eight hours a day and get paid only $1.30 . The fact that they know it will take forever for the prisoners to pay them fines off is very sickening. It’s crazy how they are being locked up are these years for non violent crimes. Now and days these big corporations don’t care for these inmates all they care about is the money and it’s sad. Lastly, that the prisons are not providing the basic items so then they have to spend money they don’t even have or even get a loan. I hate the fact that they are not providing doctoring, medicines and legal copies. To conclude this entire video was disturbing these big corporations and private prisons need to change their ways of doing these or it's gonna get worse. savage456
ReplyDeleteAfter watching this video I was very shocked and thrown off because they were using the inmates and forcing them to do labor work. The reason I was so shocked is because the inmates were doing a lot of work just to make $1.30 and the owners of the prison expects inmates to be able to live off of this $1.30 which is pretty much impossible and miserable that they have to live like that. Another thing that threw me off was the fact that we know prisons are becoming overcapacity and we still send prisoners back to prison for being in debt pretty much while in prison. It would take the prisoner years to pay all that money back therefore why even put them in an unfair position like that where they are being set up to fail. As a system we want everyone to get better while in prison in order to protect people outside the prison and make sure inmates when they get out they do not commit another crime. We should not set a prisoner up to fail when they are released because they could begin to commit the crimes they committed before. It bothers me that prisons do not provide inmates with proper healthcare. I understand that they do not deserve the best healthcare but they do deserve some healthcare that helps them to get better and not cheap healthcare or no attention at all. Like I stated before I feel this way because as a system we want to help, serve, and protect people and the best way we can do this is to remember everyone is human and if we treat humans like animals they will act in that way. The overall video just made me kind of angry and sick.
ReplyDeleteswaggyy456
People in prison make dirt money, as they work the same hours as most Americans that have normal lives; eight hours a day. Although, they have to pay outrageous prices for everything they need and takes forever to pay off their fines.
ReplyDeletePrisoners are forced into labor. Most military needs are made into federal prisons, but not only military needs are. Many corporations are put inside prison walls for prison to work on their needs since it is extremely profitable. Which as the guy in the video said, is the issue. Many prisoners are put in their for decades and put to work, is that a reason why we throw so many people in cells?
In 1980 prisoners were put to work for eight hours a day and paid for $1.20. Nearly forty years later, and they pay them ten cents more, $1.30. How do we expect them to pay off their fines? Well I assume it's none of our problem, they can figure it out themselves, right? Well we aren't giving them the opportunity, because we are sick! Sure, people are put in there for terrible crimes. But there are also individuals in there put in there for petty crimes. Why don't we change things around? Why don't we continue to pay the low life rapists $1.30, but the petty crime makers more? Why can't we do that? We can, but we aren't.
There are so many outrageous, disgusting and extremely disappointing facts that I have learned from this video. The one that bothered me the most is that the prisoners have loved ones that may have died, or are dying. They get fifteen minutes to go see and spend time with them. Those fifteen minutes cost them $900, so like the video states, lets just imagine how long it takes for them to save up all of that money if they get paid $1.30 for eight hours. They may take them six months to even earn that money. But because of all their others needs, and the prices of those, they will have a difficult time saving things.
America is doing a terrible, no good job at handling their convicts. They need to do better. But it took them nearly 40 years to raise ten cents of payment for the prisoners, so lets just wait another 40 years to exhale on it all. Rugby_456
I agree with all the points you've made. The one that hit me the hardest too was the fact that if they have a loved one who died or is dying it costs them hundreds of dollars for what is bound to feel like no time at all. For some of those inmates it's impossible to save up that type of money if you include any necessities they need to buy along with trying to save up. And if it's a sudden death, you're just screwed, honestly. One of the other points you made that I agree with is that we can go ahead and pay rapists and murderers the $1.30 or not allow them to have jobs at all but we need to change things and give workers who may be in for petty crimes a wage that is practically nothing. Xielxs456
DeleteAfter watching this video and hearing that we have twenty five percent of the worlds prison population and the United States is five percent of the world’s population. Some of those five percent are being paid a dollar and thirty cents a day, and those people are the prisoners. It is inhumane that companies and private corporations are exploiting prisoners to make a profit. How is that even allowed to happen is my whole question to myself. Those prisoners are being forced to work for a dollar and thirty cents a day and if they are ever disruptive to others they are being isolated. What bothers me is that these prisoners do hard labor and earn twenty-eight dollars a month to save to pay for their fines and to buy their basic needs like footwear that cost more than their monthly earning. And if they can’t afford it they must take a loan for them to get their necessities, also to pay to visit a doctor and for medicine. Then once they are released from the prison and they still owe on their loan and can’t pay it off because they don’t have a job then they go right back in prison. I thought that, as tax payers, our money goes in there, but to me it doesn’t sounds like it does. We put inmates in prison to be rehabilitated for what they did so they can be reintegrated back into society, not to dehumanize them. These private prisons all they want is to make a profit and they do not even care if the inmates are earning enough to suit their needs. On my own opinion, prisons and companies who profit from them are treating the inmates as slaves, to work long hours for almost nothing. I believe change in sentencing, laws, and regulations around the prison system must change to make changes and improvement. -M.Scott456
ReplyDeleteIt's no secret that the prisons and jails in the United States treat their prisoners like they're less than human. Sure, prisons all over the world treat their inmates terribly but you'd think the United States wouldn't be as awful as they are. Our prisons may not bad in the same types of ways others are but this video really made me think about how little our prisoners get. I think it's awful that our prisoners are earning about one dollar and thirty cents a day for working eight hour days like most working civilians. A dollar thirty a day is nothing, just nothing. In forty years our facilities have managed to make the pay wage for inmates go up ten cents, just ten cents, while the pay wage for nearly any other job has gone up tremendously in forty years. In the video they mentioned how items in the commissary have practically doubled but how much inmates earn has barely moved. There are inmates who work in prison who, when they are released, if they are released, will only have that money they made while doing their job in prison. There's absolutely no way that inmate could survive long at all on barely any money. I think the saddest part about this is that these jobs for prisoners exist because facilities don't want to have to hire civilians and pay them an actual wage. It's just a way for these facilities to make and save money. I don't think that it's a bad thing that prisoners have the opportunities to have jobs, I think it's great actually, they learn work ethic and skills that can be useful after they are released but I think that it's time our prisons and jails pay their workers a wage that's more than a couple of quarters a day, even if these workers are inmates they're still people putting hard work into making sure these places run smoothly.
ReplyDeleteXielxs456
I agree with how little our prisoners get and how they treated less than a human. Every human has rights and does not deserve to get treated that way NO MATTER what crime they committed. Kind of thinking about it this way, could a human survive in the real world making a $1.30 a day? No. So why making the inmates suffer that much. I understand that they are in prison, but to talk to a loved one, buy a bag of chips or something to drink is way more than a $1.30. Prisons should have programs, so they get more job opportunities. -Bears456
DeleteClearly, I did not know ninety none percent of the information that was mentioned in this video, but the one thing that got me the most was working for a $1.30 a day. I was also thrown off about how they enforce labor work. How can you pay off anything you have while only making $1.30 a day in manual labor? Everyone wants inmates not to come back, but only making that much a day will not only take forever to pay anything, but once they are finally out the will have nothing. In Illinois, to rent a property you have to be making at least 13 dollars an hour to be able to afford it, so how come these inmates only get a $1.30? Working for that much is basically being a slave. Also, the fact that the inmates have to pay 0.15 cents a minute to talk on the phone is outrageous. Since they are only getting paid $1.30 a day that equals up to six minutes on the phone call. I get that they are in there for a reason, but to get treated like they are a human. Being treated like slaves once again. No one should have to go through that and definitely do not wish it upon anyone. I actually feel bad for them to a certain extent. States and the government need to help out these prisoners and not like them be dehumanized and being treated like they are some kind of animal. It also just comes to show that is it cruel and unusual punishment, which is wrong on so many levels. I bet you this is one of the reasons riots start to happen because of the money. -Bears456
ReplyDeleteI feel like we have really lost sight of what prison was originally meant for. It's not an organization to make money off of and how did that ever become an idea? I think a bunch of people saw in opportunity to make a quick buck by essentially demanding slave labor from these inmates and they thought either nobody would notice or care because their prison inmates. How does this not count as cruel and unusual punishment? Forcing prisoners to rack up debt just to survive and then send them back to prison when they cannot pay off their debt? It's a cycle that keeps people going back to prison for one mistake they made and it defeats the original purpose of prison. I'm just really surprised about this I always thought of prisons as very straight forward things. You commit a crime and you go to prison for a few years as punishment and while in prison your are given things to fulfill your basic living needs like food, clothes, hygiene and then when you have served your time you get out and hopefully learned your lesson. When did it become about making money and recycling prison inmates? Now If I'm being honest these things I'm saying only apply to those who haven't committed violent crimes and people who haven't committed serious crimes that severely hurt other individuals.
ReplyDelete-CoffeeAddict456
$7.00 for a box of envelopes, $900 to be able to see a deceased loved one $1.20 for eight hours of work? The prison is literally set up to put these inmates in debt. How can you give a loan to someone that you know won't be able to pay off. Seriously I used to give out loans to people, I had to follow a company policy that we had to look at the persons bank statements and pay stub to insure that we could loan them a certain amount of money and that they would be able to pay a loan off. Also families coming to visit should not have to be treated as a prisoner they should not have to feel humiliated or embarrassed because of someones mistake. They should be able to speak with their family without a crazy charge to talk to some one on the phone. How can we pay someone as if we are in the 1900's for work but yet over charge for little things and charge a stupid amount to see a loved one who has passed. How can we re-imprison someone for a debt that they couldn't pay off in the first place only to make more debt for that person. The system is broke it really is. When they are released They have no job, no place to live they have nothing. How are they going to get money? the same way they did before theft, slinging drugs. etc . ~myhearseisnotafuneralcar456~
ReplyDeleteI simply enjoy watching these videos because I learn something new every time. You can talk to anyone thats been to prison but they never speak in my case on the scenes behind their experience. I have never looked at a prison system different till now. I found it interesting that we have people behind bars due to the crimes they committed that if they have the privilege to see people out side of prison, that its a constant battle. Just to get a visitor rather its someone local or far away from home its costing them a ridiculous amount for what its worth. Their families are basically a prisoner themselves for that visiting time. You have families waiting outside in different weather conditions, they have no restroom if needed, they pay a fee at times, they pay a phone fee if its not an option for a face to face visit, and still the prisoner is being punished just for those couple minutes. Prisoners also have a option at times when it comes to seeing someone for the last term as if their parents were dying and it cost them 900 dollars just for that time they get for a time that can never be replaced. If we make our prisoners pay that kind of money then I think we have something going wrong in the system because most prisoners do not have that kind of money in a account and usually family or friends do not support them with that much money while they are in there. We charge prisoners for phone calls which can be different on the cost just depends your location but we also have phone companies at prisons that you can buy a package deal for a 10 dollar card but the company will charge 3 dollars and to me that is not a deal especially when its doubled priced. Most prisoners work 8 hour days if they get the opportunity to and when working 8 hours a day they get $1.30 for their work says the video. From my feelings, I do not feel that is right. I'm not sure how any inmate that has no support system from the outside would be able to get the things they need for hygiene or simply stuff for personal needs off that pay. We also have corporations that have made themselves into the prison for cheaper work to be done. These corporations now that their workers will always want to work for the money, be on time to work, they don't have to pay benefits into them, and that if they don't want to work then they are punished, yet they pay them $1.30 a day for the work when they are make triple the money off of them if not more. Most our prisoners have a chance of leaving the facility in debt. When a prisoner leaves with debt they have a high chance of returning because when they get on the outside they have no support let alone can barely find a job to help support them and pay off their fines. We have Prison administration in most prisons that are completely okay with that, and to me that is not okay. But for them its okay because it goes back to the revolving door method. As long as they have the revolving door then they are making money and to them I feel like that's all the matters.
ReplyDeleteunknownzeeha456
As someone who plans to endure a career in federal corrections, I am disgusted by any form of private prisons. Prison is a place for punishment and rehabilitation. Federal prisons are not a place of buisness, they are not built for profit. As if the money that private prisons get per prisoner is not enough, they also charge extremely outrageous prices for general things that cost next to nothing in the real world. Beside that, the federal government has a minimum wage of a little over seven dollars, yet these people are getting paid $1.30 an hour? That is ridiculous. How can you even justify treating someone like that. That seems close to cruel and unusual punishment, which our government protects against.
ReplyDeleteLowAndSlow456