I know, I know. You read the title of this post and you're thinking, "Wow, this girl is either a dictator or a slavedriver. She might even be racist!" But I'm not talking about chaining together people who otherwise have a right to be free, and I'm definitely not talking about chaining together only a certain type of people, and then depriving them of water, food, bathroom breaks, breaks in general, clean clothes, etc. And I'm not talking about beating or torturing people as a way of motivating them to work a little harder.
I'm talking about making prisoners do some actual labor in observance of the crimes they have committed! Now there are definitely people who are all up in arms about bringing back chain gangs. They think that because chain gangs are so easily associated with the mostly-black chain gangs of the early 1900s and therefore with slavery, that bringing back chain gangs would remind people of the denial of human rights that was the enslavement and subjugation of black people. Understandable. But, things were much different back then. Black people were treated abominably, and being on a chain gang was all too similar to being a slave on a plantation. They were beaten, whipped, starved, dehydrated, and pretty much robbed of all human rights. This is not the type of chain gang I am hoping will resurface in America.
Now, some states have actually started using chain gangs again to clean up trash, clear the road, stuff like that. In 1995, a prison in Alabama chained some of its prisoners together to do some roadside chores. Yes, there was opposition. And to be fair, it was just. The prisoners were forced to work 12-hour days in the hot Alabama sun. They received food and water and bathroom breaks, but still. That's a little bit outrageous. The chain gangs that I'm proposing would work shorter hours, especially depending on the weather. But think of the benefits! The most obvious? Free labor. Well, nothing's free, but you get the idea. Not to mention, prisoners actually having to pay for their crimes! The amount of leisure time that most minimum-security prisoners get in jail is ridiculous. Jail isn't a place where criminals are punished; it's just a way to keep them separated from the law-abiding citizens for a little while. Who do you think is going to be more likely to become a repeat offender? A drug dealer who got to watch Jeopardy and lift weights all day and even take some college classes, or a drug dealer who had to do manual labor for 5 hours a day, Monday through Friday? It's a rhetorical question.
Some of the arguments against chain gangs are based on human rights and civil liberties. We're not talking about forcing people to work in malaria-infested swamps or to wear the chains of the early 1900s that gave the inmates "chain poison." We're talking about people who broke the law having to use a little elbow grease while doing time for their crime!
If you don't want to be in a chain gang, don't commit a crime. It's as simple as that.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,982949,00.html --Article about the chain gang in Alabama
http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/6045/Chain-Gangs.html --Article arguing against chain gang revival
Is this in response to the prison strike? Also intriguing. http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/41235/the-largest-prison-strike-in-american-history-goes-ignored-by-us-media/
ReplyDeleteIt is not! Until you mentioned it, I had not heard of the prison strike. Not surprising, based on the title of the article you sent. But yes, those prisoners are somewhat in the right. I do think they should be provided with suitable living conditions and access to their families. But if they get paid to work and get to take college-level classes, they're not truly paying for their crimes! Again, I say, if you don't want to be punished for your crime, don't commit it in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading my blog! :)