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It’s a little curious. On one hand, most states ban forced prison labor.
… on the other hand, no state has the minimum wage for prison labor set at the same rate as free labor. They can’t make you work, but they can underpay you for the work you do. Maryland has tried to pass a bill several times, but enduring budget fucking chaos in this state ensures that it always gets killed early.
… and on the OTHER hand, Cali and Texas, two of the biggest states (by population) and biggest prison populations, both do allowed forced prison labor.
:/
The voters in CA defeated a ballot initiative to ban forced labor in our prisons. It was a rough year at the ballot box. Almost everything I voted for went the other way.
Yeah, I remember hearing about that and being disheartened.
It’s like, fuck. We can’t even get a majority of voters on a single issue like that to agree not to be shitheads towards other people? No major issue of liked or disliked personalities, no (nominal) issue of party loyalties, just “Do you want to keep perpetuating a modern form of slavery, Y/N?”
… trying to improve society is like fucking herding cats.
Bipartisan compromises.
