Slavery in the New Millenium

http://www.blackcommentator.com/141/141_slavery_1_pf.html

Plantation prisons emerged in the southern states shortly after the end of the Civil War. Not surprisingly they were modeled after the slave plantation. Practically all of the prisoners were black, both male and female. They were sent to these prisons “on the flimsiest pretexts and then put to hard labor in the fields of these prisons, often in chain gangs.” Prisons like Parchman in Mississippi and Cummins in Arkansas were little more than slave plantations which, along with convict leasing, extended the slave system long after emancipation.


Many of these prisons became notorious over the years, resulting in literally thousands of deaths. Perhaps the most infamous case came to light at the Tucker Prison Farm where a reform-minded warden named Tom Murton discovered numerous bodies of dead prisoners buried in the fields in the 1960s. The scandal created quite a stir at the time. Even a movie, Brubaker, starring Robert Redford was made about this scandal.



Throughout history those in power have sought to control groups that they perceived to be a threat and/or groups they wished to dominate for political or economic gain. The methods of control have varied from economic marginalization to thought control via propaganda to subjecting them to the control of the legal system to total or partial segregation and finally, in extreme cases, total extermination (e.g., genocide). In America such control has targeted Native Americans, African slaves, labor agitators and many others.

U.S. Prison Labor

www.actionpa.org/prisons/



While U.S. politicians criticize China for their use of prison labor, U.S. federal and state prisons have been using prison labor for some time. Even companies like Microsoft have used prison labor. Many states have furniture made for their state institutions (including public universities) in their state prisons. Prison factories compete with jobs on the "outside," deny worker rights and provide cheap labor to private corporations.

http://www.andrewbrel.com/