this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2024
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United States | News & Politics

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[–] rooster_butt@lemm.ee 10 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Good luck changing the 13th amendment to get that in prison part removed. Realistically it's not going to happen for a long time. It's stupid to campaign on something you have no feasible way to achieve.

[–] nokturne213@sopuli.xyz 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

if they’re not behind bars

[–] rooster_butt@lemm.ee 5 points 9 months ago

Article says "Except in prison" no idea why lemmy title is different. This is just more of the ol: "this is why this good thing that changes things for the better is bad".

[–] GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The 13th Amendment doesn't say "You must use slave labor" and, in fact, doesn't even say "Prisons have a right to do slave labor," it just says "This stuff we're saying here forbidding slavery doesn't apply to penal labor", it's negative, not positive.

Anyway, my original point is that you absolutely do not need to change the Amendment to amend prison labor laws, hence how prison labor laws have been amended in many states already.

[–] rooster_butt@lemm.ee -1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Look I do not agree with for profit prisons. I'm not defending it. I'm just stating facts. You can try to convince the 6-3 conservative majority supreme court that the 13th amendment needs to reinterpreted, see how far that takes you.

[–] GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Literally what is a single basis for what you're saying? When has the SC ever struck down a law raising prison labor wages on the basis that prisons have a legally-protected right to slave labor? I genuinely think you have no idea what laws are if you can't tell a difference between a sanctioned right and the absence of a prohibition.

[–] delirious_owl@discuss.online 3 points 9 months ago

Why not? I would expect ending slavery to pass in 2024.

[–] HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world -1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I mean, sure? If someone goes to prison you probably don't want them making a full time wage, while having everything else paid for. Its meant to be worse than living out.

Different discussions can and should be held if they are being forced to work, for profit prisons, or options to work and gain skills or experience in trades, or to fund study. But at a surface level it sounds fair.

[–] 100_kg_90_de_belin@feddit.it 8 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

"It's meant to be worse than living out" is full-blown Victorian welfare.

[–] HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Care to elaborate? Because what I'm seeing is that you want those imprisoned, who are deliberately separated from society and deprived them of rights like personal freedom, to have the same rights and access to advancement?

Make no mistake, im not saying deprive them of basic human right - the prison system is bad enough. But they are meant to be deprived of freedom.

[–] 100_kg_90_de_belin@feddit.it 4 points 9 months ago

I'm for abolishing prison, you're for treating them as in a Victorian workhouse.