etee's Blog

This morning, as I was searching for material for The Weakly Garlic, I came across the following article in the Houston Chronicle. After I calmed down and took some blood pressure medicine, I started thinking. And then I had to maybe take some more blood pressure medicine.

The article? Oh, yes, my bad:

Colorado considers prisons as source for farmworkers

DENVER — Ever since passing what its legislature touted as the nation's toughest laws against illegal immigrants last summer, Colorado has struggled with a labor shortage as migrant workers fled the state. This week, officials announced a novel solution: use convicts as farm labor.

The Department of Corrections hopes to launch a pilot program this month — thought to be the first of its kind — that would contract with more than a dozen farms to provide inmates who will pick melons, onions and peppers.

The first of its kind? Not hardly. Maybe the folks in Colorado don't study American History in school, but if they did they need to go back and refresh their memories, because we have tried such a program before: it was that "peculiar institution", also known as slavery. And, if I recall correctly, getting rid of that program required a war so bloody that it would make the current conflict in Iraq seem like just another day in New Orleans (come to think of it, the current conflict in Iraq does seem like just another day in New Orleans...)

But, I digress.

In case you want something a bit less melodramatic, it might be good to recall that sheriffs in several... rural... counties have run a profitable side business hiring out inmates to local farmers and ranchers, or as servants during social events, or as "companions"... profitable, that is, until they get caught, at which time somebody else winds up behind bars.

The comparisons don't stop simply at the conditions of the workers. Sure, they may get "paid" (if you call 60 cents a day "pay"), but they are under effectively the same type of control as the slaves were: if they mouth off, they're likely to get the crap beaten out of them; if they are pretty or female (or sometimes just having bodily orifices is sufficient) they are subject to sexual abuse, and if they try to leave their situation they face a bullet in the back (which may be more humane than being skinned alive with a whip - I haven't tried either, neither do I care to.) Prison guards are proving themselves every bit as sadistic and cruel as their counterparts in such illustrious organizations as the KGB, OGPU, SS, and Gestapo, and are certainly carrying on the traditions of the overseers in the old South.

Even more insidious is the effect on the economy. After all, this is about finding someone to do the menial jobs for low wages (otherwise those large agri-businesses couldn't sustain their obscene profits economic viability.) Having a labor force which works essentially for free upsets the economic balance, as it removes a big ticket item from the expense side of the ledger. As a result, competitors in the industry have to do something to remain competitive, and the whole economic picture gets sort of a Dorian Gray-ish appearance. And, once hooked on the narcotic of free, forced labor, the business is going to fight any attempt to alter the deal. The seeds of that struggle are already being planted, as Mr. Riccardi points out:

Ricardo Martinez of the Denver immigrants' rights group Padres Unidos asked: "Are we going to pull in inmates to work in the service industry, too? You won't have enough inmates — unless you start importing them from Texas."

Sure, why not? I'm sure the Vegas resort casinos could use the benefit of free labor on their bottom line. Certainly, a place like New Orleans, which is hanging on by a thread, could use the boost to their economy. Besides, Gov. Perry would be happy to sell some of his inmate population to other states looking for cheap labor - it would bring in more $$$$MONEY$$$$$, which would then go to building more prisons, so we would have more prisoners to sell to other states. Huntsville could then become the "Slave Central" of the 21st Century, and we could find a use for all those cattle cars sitting on railroad sidings!

And, of course, we have the rationalization for this course of action:

Farmers said they weren't happy with the solution either, but their livelihoods are on the verge of collapse.

Joe Pisciotta has to be sure he'll have enough workers come harvest time this fall before he plants watermelons, onions and pumpkins on his 700-acre farm in Avendale, Colo.

Yes, we may not like reviving the "peculiar institution", but otherwise we face economic ruin.

But he's not thrilled about criminals working his fields. "I've got young kids," Pisciotta said. "It's something I've got to think about."

At least he hasn't completely lost his soul yet. Of course, I am also not thrilled about this - but for a different reason entirely. It is already strange that "the land of the free" has a higher percentage of its population in prison than almost any other civilized nation (and a lot of the not-so-civilized ones) - but this program pretty much exposes the fraud that is "prison as rehabilitation" or even "prison as punishment".

Think about this: if we were to discover that the Chinese, or some other nation, was using their prison system as a source of slave labor, we would be all over them like stink on... yeah, that stuff. Yet, we do the same thing ourselves. Look up the definition of hypocrisy, and see if you don't think that it applies here.

When my mother was sick, she was told by the doctor that she had to have an operation to clear a blocked carotid artery. She replied by telling him that she was having another operation for cancer in the next month, and that she just didn't have time for this one. His response: "Ma'am, if you don't have this operation, you won't need to worry about the cancer - you'll die of a stroke long before the cancer can get you."

Well, gentle reader, we don't need to worry about the political infighting, or Islamofascism, or global warming, or thermonuclear war on the Korean peninsula, or whether or not little Janie can read well enough to pass the high-stakes test. If we don't stand fast, and insist that our elected officials terminate any and all such programs immediately, and refrain from trying to implement them in the future, we stand to lose our soul as a nation.

I remember, back when David Duke was running for Governor of Louisiana, there were contingency plans for a massive boycott, aimed at bringing Louisiana to its knees. These plans had the desired effect, as the voters in Louisiana (wisely) decided to elect the other candidate (who is now in prison for crimes committed while in office, if I recall... sigh). I think we need to take an equally tough stance with Colorado, threatening to effectively isolate that state the way we do Cuba, if they proceed with this foolhardy plan.

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