General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: 30 Percent of California's Forest Firefighters Are Prisoners [View all]Xithras
(16,191 posts)Given the choice between:
A) Sitting in a cell block staring at concrete walls, playing the bullshit prison culture gang game, and wondering if they're going to be beaten/shanked/raped today.
-or -
B) Performing a hard but exciting job that teaches them valuable skills and gets them out of their cages
...all of the prisoners on the fire lines chose B, and for good reason. Hell, most of them would do it for free just to get out of their cells (especially since most of them get 3x time off for it).
Prison should not be punitive, but rehabilitative. Establishing life and job skills is a part of that. Our problem today isn't the fact that there is work happening in prisons, but that we don't have ENOUGH work teaching valuable and marketable skills. A huge chunk of our prison population would jump at the opportunity to learn a skill or trade behind bars that would allow them to get a meaningful job after being released.
Prison labor is only a problem when it's forced. The programs in California are entirely optional. So long as that's the case, the arguments against it are misplaced.