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A comment on Senate Unanimously Approves a Bill to Make Juneteenth a Public Holiday. Parent comment

Re:Senate Unanimously Approves a Bill to Make Juneteenth a P... by verall on Tuesday June 15, 2021 @07:15PM (#27522845)
They are "forced" to work at below minimum wage rates both for the government and individual firms in public-private partnerships.

I use "forced" in quotation marks, because although prisoners are no longer forced chain-gang style, these jobs can be a prisoner's only source of money, which is required to purchase communication with the outside world.

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Re:Senate Unanimously Approves a Bill to Make Juneteenth a P... by jasonhansel on Tuesday June 15, 2021 @08:05PM (#27523211)
In some states (e.g. Texas) prisoners aren't even paid any wages--they're just punished if they refuse to work.

An article about this: https://truthout.org/articles/unpaid-labor-in-texas-prisons-...

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Re:Senate Unanimously Approves a Bill to Make Juneteenth a P... by fighterpilot on Tuesday June 15, 2021 @09:15PM (#27523792)
Is this work economically valuable/worthwhile to whoever is employing them? What are the profit margins that their employers make from their prison labor?
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