Arizona communities would 'collapse' without cheap prison labor, Corrections director says

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:

Jimmy Jenkins
@JimmyJenkins
·
Jul 14, 2022
Arizona Department of Corrections Director David Shinn just told the state legislature we can't shut down private prisons because too many communities rely on the cheap labor they provide and they would "collapse" without it

Jimmy Jenkins
@JimmyJenkins
Replying to @JimmyJenkins
Shinn: "The Department does more than just incarcerate. There are services this Dept provides to local jurisdictions (prison labor) at a rate most jurisdictions can't afford. If you were to remove these workers, some of those jurisdictions would collapse."

Jimmy Jenkins
@JimmyJenkins
·
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"We have to do it to support Arizona" — Corrections director says Arizona communities would “collapse” without cheap prison labor

azcentral.com
Arizona communities would 'collapse' without cheap prison labor, Corrections director says
David Shinn, director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, testified before the Joint Legislative Budget Committee on Thursday.
2:28 PM · Jul 14, 2022

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2022/07/14/arizona-cities-would-collapse-without-prison-labor/10062910002/

No paywall
https://archive.ph/YkNeV

Arizona Department of Corrections director David Shinn said Arizona communities would “collapse” without cheap prison labor, during testimony before the Joint Legislative Budget Committee Thursday.

Shinn made the statement while answering questions about a Request For Proposal for a contract to run the Florence West prison.

Sen. David Gowan asked Shinn about the nature of the work the prisoners do at the Florence West prison. In Arizona, all people in state prisons are forced to work 40 hours a week with exceptions for prisoners with health care conditions and other conflicting programming schedules. Some prisoners earn just 10 cents an hour for their work.

“These are low-level worker inmates that work in the communities around the county itself, I would imagine? Gowan asked.

“Yes. The department does more than just incarcerate folks,” Shinn replied. “There are services that this department provides to city, county, local jurisdictions, that simply can't be quantified at a rate that most jurisdictions could ever afford. If you were to remove these folks from that equation, things would collapse in many of your counties, for your constituents.”

*snip*



So... they're just openly admitting we have slavery in Arizona.

[BootinUp]

1. What a whiny bastard. A what a shitty community. nt

[Walleye]

2. They can't afford to pay their labor, maybe they should raise taxes

Maybe that’s why they went to outlaw abortions. They think they will get more cheap prison labor that way

[drray23]

3. so basically slavery.

That was also the argument of the southern states . Their economy was based on exploiting and abusing other human beings.

[Thomas Hurt]

4. well, it might be more akin to indentured servitude.

Except the contracted term of the servitude was imposed by the State. I understand they get the pittance to buy a few things from a prison shop....read: the company store.

If it is not clear already, the christofascists will have the free citizens of this country attending christian schools or nothing at all.

Meaning they will once again have an ignorant peasantry to exploit. The new nobility, the white rich folks will run your life like a feudal lord.

The sovereign whackjobs already think they are lords of their own fiefdoms on land they have bought or squat on, or continue to use after their leases have been pulled.

[cbabe]

5. Prisoners in census count affects representation

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/2020-census-prison-population_n_5a7cb966e4b044b3821b0507

Prisoners Where They Are Incarcerated
The decision could affect how future legislative districts are drawn.

By
Sam Levine
Feb 8, 2018, 05:12 PM EST | Updated Feb 8, 2018

The 2020 census will continue to count incarcerated people as residents of the place they are imprisoned instead of their homes, a decision critics say can target prisoners and give unfair political power to the rural areas where prisons are located.

State officials use the population from the census when they redraw legislative districts, something required by the U.S. Constitution every 10 years. Each district must have roughly the same amount of people in it, and counting prisoners as part of an area’s population can inflate its population and the political influence of the people who vote there.

Just two states in the country ― Maine and Vermont ― allow people convicted of felonies to vote while they are incarcerated.

//

Need to keep districts red.

[ripcord]

6. Doesn't bother me

They can pay for their crime including the cost of incarceration, why should the public pick up the cost for their misdeeds?

[Nevilledog]

8. You're missing the point. They want MORE PEOPLE IN PRISON.

That doesn't mean there's gonna be a whole bunch more violent criminal going to prison.... it means more people are going to be sent there for non-violent and property crimes.

Fewer people will be given the chance at probation. There will be no attempt to rehabilitate.

And yeah, I know what I'm talking about. I was a criminal defense attorney in Arizona for 27 years.

[Kittycatkat]

9. Do your homework. These types of prisons need bodies. Many people who have committed petty crimes

are railroaded, denied parole etc, because judges and other powerful people have a stake in these prisons and must keep the cells full to make money. It's a corrupt and unjust system. The US should be above this vile bullshit.

[crickets]

12. 👆👆

[onethatcares]

14. agreed.

and after "they" are no longer incarcerated they should get a visible tattoo on their bodies denoting the type of crime they committed. Or maybe chop off a finger, hand, or appendage so we all know who that is that walk among us.

We'll make em pay the rest of their lives for their wrong doing. No voting, no good jobs, no government programs. We'll show them.

Wadda you think?

[aocommunalpunch]

16. SLAVERY n/t

[Kittycatkat]

7. the south lost the fucking war, but post 1865 they've done all the can

to keep slavery alive and well in the good ole USA. Women, children, minorities, the poor - no one is safe from these privileged assclowns who spend their work days on the fucking golf course. THIS.MUST.END...now.

[crickets]

10. Related article: US prison workers produce $11bn worth of goods and services a year for pittance

https://democraticunderground.com/100216803790

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/15/us-prison-workers-low-wages-exploited
no paywall: https://archive.ph/HcWOS

Incarcerated workers in the US produce at least $11bn in goods and services annually but receive just pennies an hour in wages for their prison jobs, according to a new report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Nearly two-thirds of all prisoners in the US, which imprisons more of its population than any other country in the world, have jobs in state and federal prisons. That figure amounts to roughly 800,000 people, researchers estimated in the report, which is based on extensive public records requests, questionnaires and interviews with incarcerated workers.

ACLU researchers say the findings outlined in Wednesday’s report raise concerns about the systemic exploitation of prisoners, who are compelled to work sometimes difficult and dangerous jobs without basic labor protections and little or no training while making close to nothing. [snip]

Public officials have acknowledged that the work of these unpaid and poorly compensated incarcerated laborers is crucial: “There’s no way we can take care of our facilities, our roads, our ditches, if we didn’t have inmate labor,” Warren Yeager, a former Gulf county, Florida, commissioner said to the Florida Times-Union.

Multiple states are admitting outright that they can't function without a cheap, captive workforce. If you can't run your state without depending on underpaid forced labor, you're doing it wrong.

[crickets]

11. It's not just about keeping AZ functioning with cheap prison labor.

It's about the profit motive for private prisons, and the money politicians receive from the prison lobby. From further down in the tweet thread:

Link to tweet

Jimmy Jenkins @JimmyJenkins
Speaking of Rep. Kavanagh, an Arizona Republic investigation found that Arizona lawmakers invested more in private prisons after record-high campaign contributions from the industry in recent years.
[link below]
8:43 PM · Jul 14, 2022

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2021/07/30/az-private-prison-budgets-spike-following-record-campaign-spending/5410211001/

While Republicans, including Gov. Doug Ducey, and the Department of Corrections have said closing [state-run] Florence would save taxpayers money, the Legislature’s new budget allocation includes plans to pay private prisons $85 per day for these prisoners — a rate far higher than the current $67 per-day average. It also is not clear why the department would turn the prisoners over to private prisons when there are more than 7,600 empty beds in public facilities across the state, as of July 23. [snip]

“There's a direct correlation between the awards of these contracts, and the campaign donations,” said John Fabricius, executive director for Arizonans for Transparency and Accountability in Corrections. “It doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going on here. ... It's out here in plain sight.”

Link to tweet

Jimmy Jenkins @JimmyJenkins
The last private prison contract in Arizona was awarded to CoreCivic in December, 2021. The state agreed to pay CoreCivic $85.12 per prisoner, per day, with a guaranteed minimum 90% occupancy rate, generating millions of dollars in profits.
[link below]
8:47 PM · Jul 14, 2022

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2022/01/06/arizona-transfer-2-706-prisoners-state-run-prison-private-facility/9121316002/

Arizona will transfer 2,706 prisoners from a state-run prison to a private facility in a move that’s expected to cost the state more money, while generating millions of dollars in profits for the private prison industry. [snip]

The five-year contract took effect on Dec. 29, 2021. The state will pay CoreCivic $85.12 per prisoner, per day for the contract, with the state guaranteeing a minimum 90% occupancy rate. But that cost could increase. According to the original request for proposals, the contractor “may be eligible to receive consideration for an annual cost adjustment ... subject to approval of funding and authorization.”

So the going rate for bodies to fill CoreCivic's private prison is currently $85.12 per day. I don't think anyone involved would call it a bill of sale, but it certainly sounds a lot like one.

Question: why do 'private' prisons even exist?

[Historic NY]

13. How very 19th century...

If the prisoners are doing work that civil service employees should be doing then they should be paid for those labors according to the prevailing wage.

The state is paying $31069.00 to a private prison per inmate.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

15. Abolish it all.