To: WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2006 23:08:35 -0400
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Giant step backwards in time
From: ronkean at juno.com
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

On Wed, 05 Jul 2006 18:22:34 -0400 "Madeleine Yeh" <myeh at wap.org> writes:
> I think that slavery seems to be reappearing in the U.S.
> Look at this article about prison labor in Louisiana.
> I thought this practice was abolished decades ago.
>    It starts making economic sense for sheriffs to arrest
> as many able bodied people as possible and various fat
> cats get rich from not paying wages.
>

Slavery and involuntary servitude were abolished (outlawed) by the 13
amendment of the U.S. constitution.  But there is an exception in the
amendment for convicts.

Sheriffs would probably not go out and arrest people just to get cheap
labor, because only those who are convicted may be required to work.
It's not enough to merely be arrested; a person would have to be
convicted.

Ron Kean

.