Re: Jail costs: (was) Didn't need no welfare state (Was: Re: news...)

From: Zero Powers (zero_powers@hotmail.com)
Date: Sat Apr 22 2000 - 01:08:17 MDT


>From: Jeff Davis <jdavis@socketscience.com>
>
>On Thu, 20 Apr 2000 19:31:27 EDT
>From: QueeneMUSE@aol.com wrote:
>
> >slavery is illegal, even for convicts.
>
>Check out the amendment--the single specific exception to the ban on
>slavery and indentured servitude is for those who are incarcerated.
>
> >There's historical precedent for that law.
>
>I would be pleased to find out I am wrong in this matter, and grateful to
>be shown some post-amendment legal development outlawing slavery of the
>incarcerated.

Far be it from me to pass on an opportunity to pick a nit. So long as it
doesn't rise to the level of "cruel and unusual punishment" it is not
unconstitutional to be sentenced to hard labor. However, this is not really
the same thing as slavery. Obviously the convict cannot be bought or sold
and unlike the former slaves in the US, a convict does have certain civil
rights which cannot (legally) be violated.

-Zero

"I like dreams of the future better than the history of the past"
--Thomas Jefferson

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