abadidea1d ago

extremely mad because my relative in American prison has let me know that from now on, instead of being charged once per book or per song and having the files added permanently to his account, he's going to ALSO be charged by the minute to read or listen to music on the tablets that are the only things they're allowed to use.

reminder that paying prisoners (vastly) less than minimum wage is legal in the US because they're defined as an exception to anti-slavery laws.

Show threadabadidea1d ago
I'm pretty sure he's also going to lose access to all the compressed-like-it's-1999 jpegs of Odin that I was charged 25 cents each to send him through the world's worst email interface.
Show threadThat Old Guy with the Beard1d ago
@0xabad1dea I’m pretty sure this is what happens when you privatize the prison system. While it was bad before, it becomes drastically worse punishment now with ‘financial’ being added to the mix of torture.
Show threadJames Widman

@IanAMartin @0xabad1dea well, that, and also, we need a constitutional amendment that closes the loophole that was left open in the 13th amendment (the "except as punishment" part), so that the new rule will be:

"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

There is already a proposal for this:
https://www.merkley.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/imo/media/doc/The%20Abolition%20Amendment%20One%20Pager%20-%20117th_.pdf

Apr 3 at 3:20pmWeb
Show threadJames Widman1d ago
@IanAMartin @0xabad1dea
like, it is absolutely necessary to abolish the private prison industry, but that by itself would not solve the problem where _government_ commits enslavement.