Rumor What's going on in Portland?

Actually prisoners volunteer to become trustees and work outside during the day...get some fresh air and exercise...I think it's a false equivalency calling them slaves..they also get free ddental and medical and gym membership....Bikers used to brag about wintering in jail and getting sober and new tats pumping iron and networking, all the free medical shit and then get out in the summer and ride. Any prisoner who doesn't want to work in a trustee program or kitchen or library, etc doesn't have to as far as I know..

 

I mean, I didn’t write the 13th amendment but they did explicitly say slavery was legal if the slave is a prisoner. I don’t know how false the equivalency can be if it’s in the text itself.

Free services are not income; at best it’s a company town/company scrip situation, and I don’t think that should be allowed either.

My best friend spent 18 months in the pen when he was 19. He didn’t really like to talk about the time and he came out really messed up by the experience; maybe he didn’t earn a spot with the trustees and his time was just not as cozy.

 

I volunteered for free for the Gleaners program to distribute food to the disabled and elderly and I know it's not the same but there are lots of things that get accomplished with volunteer labor. In places like the Congo they have forced labor in the cobalt mines, etc...we use trustees here to do county cleanup projccts..

 

I think where I struggle with it is considering it "voluntary" if it is only done by prisoners and is done below market rates.

At least pay them minimum wage.

They should be allowed and even encouraged to do those jobs, sure. But they should be paid at least minimum wage to do it.

 

I think the ones that destroyed property with their protest should be on clean up patrol.
SubscriberKeyKey that denotes Subscriber Exclusive content.Cost of repairing occupation damage at Portland State library estimated at $750KThe university has insurance and is seeking a claim to offset some of these costs, according to a university spokesperson.4h agoMaxine Bernstein

 

That, I'm okay with. Fine anybody you can actually prove did actual damage with so many dollars worth of repair and they can pay it off by working to clean up/repair it.

 

Never trust Fox news polls BGD

 

Yes, there is no ethical production under capitalism; there’s blood on the cobalt in our computers, along with everything else. It’s unsustainable. But I’m talking about prisoners in the US and how they are legally slaves. The prisoners should be paid and if they aren’t they are slaves, by the definition of the constitution.

I’ve talked in other threads about how I would love a situation where non violent crime is met with rehab and public service. But even then, if the work is not voluntary, they should be paid minimum wage at least. You volunteered, and volunteer work is wonderful. It’s also voluntary.

Prisoners get so much stigma and difficulty finding work or making ends meet immediately after being released. It contributes to the recidivism rates we see. If they got paid for their work, and had money waiting for them when they were released, that might help lower that rate by giving free people who served their time a cushion to land on. (Of course these are all steps towards not needing so much retributive justice in the country but that’s going to take time)

 

As long as the police officers can be fined too, if it can be determined that their escalation into violence incited the damage.

 

Absolutely. Police should definitely be held accountable for that kind of thing. In fact I'd say police who escalate should be fired or at the very least suspended without pay.

 

I completely disagree...people write books and get college degrees in prison and some get job training through the trustee program...there are places in the world where prisons are run like slave plantations but that's not here. the biggest problem with our prison system is it doesn't make every prisoner reenter society with a marketable skill. I'm not saying prison doesn't suck but it's better here than Myanmar or Siberia. Our prison system is flawed, but not as flawed as it could be.

 

Me driving from Wilsonville into Portland, while the wife lays down suppressing fire. Just another day in PDX life.......

 

The traffic there is a warzone.

 

OAR 291-081-0030 – Inmate Compensation - OregonLawsOregonLawshttps://oregon.public.law › ... › Chap. 291 › Division 81

 

https://records.sos.state.or.us/ORSOSWebDrawer/Recordhtml/8581259

Looks like litter patrols are not part of the program, only non-agricultural interstate commerce.

 

Good law (at least, it's the right idea). Though, it should be based on state minimum wage, not federal.