More than three quarters of incarcerated people surveyed (76%) report facing punishment—such as solitary confinement, denial of sentence reductions, or loss of family visitation—if they decline to work.
Inmate firefighters are indeed inmate labor, but the issue is whether inmate firefighters are slaves. I don’t think that they are, and I also think that lumping them together with other forms of inmate labor (particularly those that benefit private interests) is misleading and hyperbolic when discussing that point.
I agree that ML is being disingenuous when they claim they’re being forced to fight fires but it is true that prisoners are forced to work which is slavery, imo. I’m glad they’re not forced into dangerous work, at a minimum.
But in this case they are volunteers. They specifically applied to the firefighting program.
There’s certainly cause for discussion about the ethics, etc. but calling it slavery or involuntary servitude is hyperbole.
The 100+ page report at https://www.aclu.org/publications/captive-labor-exploitation-incarcerated-workers makes note of this:
Calling them volunteers is the hyperbole.
Anyway, give the report a read, yeah.
I think you’re conflating the general issue of inmate labor with the particular issue of inmate firefighters.
I think you’re ignoring data that doesn’t agree with your point. Inmate firefighters are inmate labor, my dude.
Inmate firefighters are indeed inmate labor, but the issue is whether inmate firefighters are slaves. I don’t think that they are, and I also think that lumping them together with other forms of inmate labor (particularly those that benefit private interests) is misleading and hyperbolic when discussing that point.
So they get physically, mentally, and socially punished if they don’t work. Yeah, there’s a word for that: slave.
I agree that ML is being disingenuous when they claim they’re being forced to fight fires but it is true that prisoners are forced to work which is slavery, imo. I’m glad they’re not forced into dangerous work, at a minimum.