California inmates helping with the Rim Fire of 2014 (Cal Fire)
Slavery still exists in the United States.
In the state of California, 65% of the prison population is forced into involuntary labor. These services being rendered to the California economy include license plate making, construction, and janitorial duties—it can become hazardous when inmates are working on road construction and in firefighting. The ACLU estimates that these services save 1 billion dollars annually, and thousands of Californian lives are saved by the risks these inmates take to become firefighters. And yet California has never paid its incarcerated population. Gavin Newsom’s administration is concerned about this bill passing because, at the California minimum wage of $15, it would cost the taxpayers $1.5 billion annually to pay prisoners' labor, which equals the amount saved.
What Proposition 6 Will and Won’t Change
Proposition 6’s aim is to pave the way for further improvements in prison reform and bring us one hand closer to changing the rhetoric behind prisons from punishment to rehabilitation. With the beginning of wages for these imprisoned people, they will now have a way to obtain a better quality of life, begin repaying debts to society and victims, or support the inmate's families.
Proposition 6 will also allow inmates to choose jobs and shifts that they want to work, which can enable them access to a plethora of opportunities that inmates can use once released.
Proposition 6 will not solve the issue of inequality, and is not prison abolitionism, but at least prisoners will be compensated for their labor. And yes, market economies will unfortunately exist to profit off this system.
A Path to Rehabilitation: The RJ Way
Prison reform should be based on the principles of RJ, which is delineated by the fact that there is an emphasis on rehabilitation. After inmates have paid their debts to society they would be able, with the skills learned while imprisoned, to be able to actively and productively contribute back to the world.
The focus on rehabilitation will lead to a decrease in offending rates and will allow savings from not keeping an inmate to be reallocated to investments in local community programs that would provide services for Californians.
Nevertheless, Vote Yes on Proposition 6
We at the RJ Center must iterate that voting on Proposition 6 will restore a sense of value and self-worth lost among California inmates, and make the prison system a little less unequal. Proposition 6 will prioritize rehabilitation the RJ way and wil allow no person to be subjected to forced labor regardless of their status. This is one change that will end slavery across the United States.
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