Inmates are the largest single workforce in Georgia. THEY ARE
PAID NO WAGES. To anyone who is familiar with Doug Blackmon’s “Slavery by Another
Name,” this forced convict labor system should come as no
surprise. It is part of the
“New Jim Crow” mass incarceration system
that reincarnates the Old Jim Crow in the first half of the 20th century.
So some inmates decided to do something about it.
This action by the inmates was a STRIKE, not a riot or a protest. It
was an action by workers TO WITHHOLD THEIR LABOR by refusing to leave
their cells. The risks they have taken are enormous. Refusal to work
gets you a “Disciplinary Report,” which can affect parole and your
“privileges” in prison.
Is a private prison “good clean industry” as a local leader once told me?
According to the CRF [Constitutional Rights Foundation], over 25 percent
of black males and 16 percent of Hispanic males spend time in prison,
while only 4 percent of white males do so. Blacks make up only 12 percent
of the United States population.
“It’s forthcoming. I can’t tell you anything because quite frankly,
lawyers have their own schedules. I literally do not know specific
details because I’m not privy to that information as of this moment.”
Well, it’s good to know somebody’s in charge at the Authority.
The IA promised a future of more open communication.
And yet Tuesday, the board’s attorney refused to answer any questions
regarding the potential sale of the land to the company, citing a caveat
in the Open Records Act that protects information involved in a current
legal issue. The Times issued an Open Records request Tuesday to obtain
the information requested or copies of the litigation documents, assuming
that since the attorney cited this exemption, there is an active lawsuit
over the land sale.
Good point!
The VDT acknowledged its own mistake and moved to correct it:
Continue reading →
Koch Industries Inc. and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) are among companies
that would benefit from almost identical energy legislation introduced
in state capitals from Oregon to New Mexico to New Hampshire — and
that’s by design.
The energy companies helped write the legislation at a meeting organized
by a group they finance, the American Legislative Exchange Council,
a Washington-based policy institute known as ALEC.
The corporations, both ALEC members, took a seat at the legislative
drafting table beside elected officials and policy analysts by paying
a fee between $3,000 and $10,000, according to documents obtained by
Bloomberg News.
The opportunity for corporations to become co-authors of state laws
legally
There is one group of American workers so disenfranchised that
corporations are able to get away with paying them wages that rival
those of third-world sweatshops. These laborers have been legally
stripped of their political, economic and social rights and ultimately
relegated to second-class citizens. They are banned from unionizing,
violently silenced from speaking out and forced to work for little to
no wages. This marginalization renders them practically invisible, as
they are kept hidden from society with no available recourse to improve
their circumstances or change their plight.
They are the 2.3 million American prisoners locked behind bars where
we cannot see or hear them. And they are modern-day slaves of the 21st
century.
For this Sunday, a video of a church person spelling out
The Pitfalls of Private Prisons;
story by Caitlin Harrington
for Arizona Public Media,
July 20, 2011.
Arizona recently greenlit a new private prison slated to host over
5,000 beds.
Private prison supporters have long argued that private prisons save
the state money. Now new research by the American Friends Service
Committeesuggests Arizona’s private prisons are generally costing the
same amount, if not more than state prisons.
“There’s an abundance of evidence that private prisons aren’t saving
us money, are not entirely safe, and are really not good for the state
of Arizona,” says Caroline Isaacs, program director of the committee,
tells Arizona Illustrated.
Caroline Isaacs, program director, American Friends Service Committee
We don’t need a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia.
Spend those tax dollars on rehabilitation and education instead.
Outgoing chairman Jerry Jennett asked nominating committee chair Tom Call
to read the slate of officers discussed
last time
to server for FYE 2012.
They were:
Roy Copeland Chairman, Mary Gooding Vice-Chairman, and Norman Bennett Secretary-Treasurer.
The board voted unanimous to approve that slate, and Jennett
practically threw the hot potato gavel to new
Chairman Roy Copeland.
John Robinson congratulated Roy Copeland for accepting the position
as chair of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA)
and said:
We’re looking forward to working along with you guys,
because we truly need the help now on
the other side of the railroad track over there.
…
And we do believe that if everyone try to work together
we can get something done.
Received a thank you from John Robinson of the Black Businessmen’s Association during the Citizens to be Heard portion of the meeting for agreeing to work with small and emerging businesses, with the goal of removing the “social divide” in the city;
Small emerging businesses —Mr. Robinson @ VLCIA 19 July 2011
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Tom Call, Roy Copeland chairman, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett,
Andrea Schruijer Executive Director, J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Project Manager,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 19 July 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
I promise one can only imagine what it’s like to have a loved one
die in your arms from a chronic lung disease like COPD, when every
breath is a struggle and each day that passes a long and horrible death
is the inevitable, my mother moved here with me from south Florida,
her quality of life changed until her death from COPD in 2003. Biomass
affects everyone, not just in the county it’s built in.
I personally
have children which I would love to see grow with strong healthy lung
functions. Some children and adults already have asthma and other lung
disorders. I’m not quite sure of the long term effects biomass consist
of but I am quite sure were going to be the ones that suffer in the end
each and every one of us! It does raise my concern when Dr. Noll speaks
about biomass and we all might need to rethink the potential danger it
will bring with it. Previously I thought it was a good energy source,
I now think otherwise. Speak now or forever hold your peace because I
get this feeling… there sneaking in!
Inmates are the largest single workforce in Georgia. THEY ARE PAID NO WAGES. To anyone who is familiar with Doug Blackmon’s “Slavery by Another Name,” this forced convict labor system should come as no surprise. It is part of the “New Jim Crow” mass incarceration system that reincarnates the Old Jim Crow in the first half of the 20th century.
So some inmates decided to do something about it.
