Citizen dialog for transparent process by the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange
What’s the value of inmates?
Cheap labor. And not just unskilled labor.
Brennan Leathers wrote
in The Post-Searchlight on 18 February 2011,
Inmate housing a hot topic
about how overcrowded nearby prisons are and
about haggling over what the local jail wants to charge to house prisoners,
and ended with this:
“Working our inmates the way we do has greatly benefited the county,”
[Warden Elijah] McCoy [of the Decatur County Jail] said. “We can
construct buildings from the ground up and wire them. We perform all
of the county’s maintenance and operate some of the equipment at the
county’s landfill.”
Not only prison jobs, but it would also be a boost for many small
businesses in the area. The construction part would also be a good shot
in the arm.
Local construction people who think it will be a good deal to
build a private prison maybe should think they may be putting
themselves out of a lot of jobs after it’s built.
Private prisons in North Carolina have driven furniture manufacturers out of business. Citizens need to wake up: private prisons are not sustainable.
The next time a local construction firm wants to build a government project, they might have to compete with Ashley Paulk’s private prison laborers. Paulk is now on the Georgia Board of Corrections. He’ll be pushing private prisons everywhere, including Valdosta.
Construction firms will be out-competed for government contracts. Paulk is the Chairman of the Board of Guardian Bank. Why support a business that supports a private prison pusher? No thanks. I closed my checking account and took it elsewhere, and I urge Christians whose denominations have opposed private prisons (Catholic, Presbyterian, Episcopal) to do their banking elsewhere. Where would Jesus bank? With a private prison pusher? I don’t think so.
“Working our inmates the way we do has greatly benefited the county,” [Warden Elijah] McCoy [of the Decatur County Jail] said. “We can construct buildings from the ground up and wire them. We perform all of the county’s maintenance and operate some of the equipment at the county’s landfill.”
Private prisons in North Carolina have driven furniture manufacturers out of business. Citizens need to wake up: private prisons are not sustainable.
The next time a local construction firm wants to build a government project, they might have to compete with Ashley Paulk’s private prison laborers. Paulk is now on the Georgia Board of Corrections. He’ll be pushing private prisons everywhere, including Valdosta.
Construction firms will be out-competed for government contracts. Paulk is the Chairman of the Board of Guardian Bank. Why support a business that supports a private prison pusher? No thanks. I closed my checking account and took it elsewhere, and I urge Christians whose denominations have opposed private prisons (Catholic, Presbyterian, Episcopal) to do their banking elsewhere. Where would Jesus bank? With a private prison pusher? I don’t think so.