Details here.
It's nice to see they are learning "work ethic" so that when they are released and try to get a job at LSU doing the sort of work they've learned on this program, they'll be able to be replaced by the next crop of convict labor costing LSU $3.62 an hour.
Update (4/21/09 at 11:20 pm): Briefly put, you could unravel all of neoliberalism from this story: the underfunding of public universities, the reduction of full-time work through the outsourcing of labor, the race to the bottom in looking for cheap labor, etc. This labor practice means there are what, 30 more families in Baton Rouge w/o a stable breadwinner? We know that this will increase the crime rate that produces the pool of cheap inmate labor.
Actually, that study shows a strong correlation between property crime and unemployment. But no one is fooled about the racial discrepancy in drug law enforcement, and I'd bet 90% of the inmates in the LSU program -- the vast majority of whom are African-American -- are in for non-violent drug possession or at best petty dealing: "really nice guys who made some poor choices" is AFAICT clearly a code for simple possession.
Re-inventing slavery. Complete with some nice guilt-soothing "really, we're helping these guys out" rationalizations.
When will people realize that "we couldn't afford this, otherwise" is just code for "without this practice, some white guys could never get rich"? It makes me ill.
Posted by: Marijo Cook | April 27, 2009 at 08:22 AM