Pubdate: Tue, 10 Sep 2013
Source: Times-Tribune, The (Scranton PA)
Copyright: 2013 Townnews.com
Contact:  http://www.thetimes-tribune.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4440
Author: Stephen George Bettum

PRISON SLAVES

Editor: Is there hidden slavery in the United States?

There is a never-ending war on drugs, a seriously broken justice 
system, and laws that are not equally enforced. Many states have 
mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders and three-strike laws. 
Some states' prison systems can add time to a prisoner's sentence for 
minor infractions without a trial.

These for-profit prison systems are running prisons for a fee and 
then getting the use of free prison labor to manufacture products for 
industries that then compete with regular businesses. How many jobs 
is this costing the regular American public?

Haven't there been enough prisoners and police officers lost in the 
pointless drug wars and in our prisons? Do we really want our police 
to die protecting a few for-profit corporations? How can we talk to 
other countries about their slavery problems when we have prison 
slaves? Hasn't there been enough slavery?

STEPHEN GEORGE BETTUM

SCRANTON
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom