The Prison Plantation System
The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1865 officially abolished slavery. However, there is a crucial legal exception. Section 1 of the Amendment provides: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” In plain English, this simply means those behind bars have no constitutional rights and they can be forced to work as further punishment for their crimes. They earn, if you can even say that, little or no money. It’s a new form of slavery. The plantation system is tragically alive and well. Blacks, Latinx and Indigenous make up a disproportionate percentage of those incarcerated. Many of them were coerced into plea deals. In this program, Chris Hedges describes the effort of some prisoners to educate themselves. Recorded at The Sanctuary for Independent Media.
Speaker
Chris Hedges
Chris Hedges is an award-winning journalist who has reported from war zones around the world. Cornel West calls him, “The greatest radical writer and journalist of our generation.” He writes a weekly column for scheerpost.com. He is the host of The Chris Hedges Report. He is the author of many books including War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning, Empire of Illusion, Death of the Liberal Class, Wages of Rebellion, Our Class, and The Greatest Evil is War.
Sylvia Grace –
I too wept for Terrance short monologue and Chris’ in-depth watchmanship of American Prison System…thank again!
Jonathan Pistorino –
Phenomenal discussion by an amazing man full of compasion.
Raini barrett –
I caught only a portion of this program on a local radio station. I stopped what I was doing, and gave Chris my full attention. It was well worth it.