Man Forced to Work in Prison Sues Under Anti-Slavery Amendment

[techs]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/man-alleging-prison-labor-violated-anti-slavery-amendment/story?id=16970464

Vermont man suing the state under the 13th Amendment for the labor he was forced to perform while awaiting trial in jail will get his day in court.

Finbar McGarry was a graduate student at the University of Vermont in December 2008 when he was arrested for allegedly firing a gun in his home and threatening to kill his family and an official at the university, where he had recently lost his job. His lawsuit alleges that the state violated his rights under the 13th Amendment -- which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude after the Civil War -- when he was forced to work in the laundry for minimal pay as an inmate in the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington, Vt.

McGarry, who filed the $11-million lawsuit pro se, said he was forced to work three days a week for six weeks washing other inmates' laundry. He was paid a wage of 25 cents per hour and developed a bacterial infection on his neck because he was not provided sanitation in the laundry room, he told ABC News in an interview Thursday.

Prison officials threatened to put McGarry "in the hole," where inmates are shackled and locked up for 23 hours per day in solitary confinement, if he refused to work, he said.

McGarry was released in June 2009, and all charges against him were dropped.



I gotta side with him on this. He was awaiting trial and had not been convicted of anything.

 

[Thump553]

techs: It is beyond naive to take the allegations of pro se prisoner lawsuits as true-probably one in 10,000 or less have any merit at all. Get back to us after the case has gone through full trial.

 

[Merad]

If true as stated in the article, I'd say he'll be getting a nice payday from the state. Had he been convicted though, I doubt he'd have a chance of winning.

 

[Texashiker]

I gotta side with him on this. He was awaiting trial and had not been convicted of anything.

I have to agree as well.

Just because someone commits a crime does not mean they can be used as slave labor.

But then again, if I tell my daughter to wash the clothes, can she use the same argument against me?

 

[Spungo]

I gotta side with him on this. He was awaiting trial and had not been convicted of anything.

Forced labor is wrong even if he was convicted because that makes an incentive to throw people in jail just for the sake of having slave labor. Many dictatorships throughout history have done this. Stalin was notorious for having people arrested just to provide slave labor. China still does this. We are not China nor should we strive to become China.

 

[OutHouse]

I gotta side with him on this. He was awaiting trial and had not been convicted of anything.

then should he have been in prison?? after all he was awaiting trial.

 

[nehalem256]

I have to agree as well.

Just because someone commits a crime does not mean they can be used as slave labor.

But then again, if I tell my daughter to wash the clothes, can she use the same argument against me?

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Indeed they can.

Although in this case it would not apply as he had not been convicted.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Quote:
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Indeed they can.

Although in this case it would not apply as he had not been convicted.

Yep, and I have no problem with convicted prisoners forced to work. Guess what? That's neither cruel or unusual. Prison isn't supposed to be pleasant so they can get over it.

If however the person has not been convicted then I would say his Constitutional rights are violated.

 

[MooseNSquirrel]

Forced labor is wrong even if he was convicted because that makes an incentive to throw people in jail just for the sake of having slave labor. Many dictatorships throughout history have done this. Stalin was notorious for having people arrested just to provide slave labor. China still does this. We are not China nor should we strive to become China.

I find it odd that this is legal, yet it appears that it would be.

 

[techs]

I should point out that it was only the fact that they would "punish" him by putting him in the hole, shackled, for 23 hours a day if he didn't work that makes it wrong.

If they offer you a job and you want to work, fine. If you decline to work you shouldn't lose anything except for the money you won't be earning.

btw Jail usually refers to a local jail where people serve sentences up to a year or are awaiting trial. Prison is for people who are convicted of crimes and sentenced to over a year.

 

[JKing106]

Forced labor is wrong even if he was convicted because that makes an incentive to throw people in jail just for the sake of having slave labor. Many dictatorships throughout history have done this. Stalin was notorious for having people arrested just to provide slave labor. China still does this. We are not China nor should we strive to become China.

We're on the way. Since the rise of private prisons, certain judges and law enforcement officials (COUGH Arpaio COUGH) with buddies who own companies who provide those prisons services (food, clothes, furniture, etc.) are throwing people in jail for bullshit reasons to fill those cells. Then, use those prisoners for labor. To pay fucking shareholders. If that's not a form of slavery, I don't know what is. The only difference is it's corporations that drive the demand, not a dictator.

 

[bfdd]

I believe it should be a requirement of one in prison to have a job and pay taxes in order to pay back and contribute back into society for what they took. Not slavery mind you, but there's absolutely no reason work can't be used as rehabilitation and there really is no reason for them no to work unless they're just worthless piles of shit who wish to give nothing back to the rest of us. At which point we should just kill them because they're obviously defective.

 

[piasabird]

Steal a car death
rape death
use a gun in a crime death
brake into a house to steal or kill death

Either die right away or you become a prison slave.

Anything could be taken advantage of by ruthless people. Paying taxes could be compared to slavery. Taxation is the same as slave labor. We should make everyone pay some kind of a minimum tax. Even if it is only like $200 military tax. If you cant pay, you have to send one son to the military to work for free.

 

[Spungo]

What was that saying on the nazi death camp? something about freedom and working?

 

[micrometers]

I seriously want to see a pic of this guy. He is a grad student who wound up in prison...

 

[techs]

I think we need to bring back slave labor for convicted felons. Just make them work in a mine or something else that is highly dangerous. I am all for work camps.

No, we need to get the most out of them. If they have skills they should replace American overpaid workers.

Maybe they could take piasabirds job?

 

[mect]

Forced labor is wrong even if he was convicted because that makes an incentive to throw people in jail just for the sake of having slave labor. Many dictatorships throughout history have done this. Stalin was notorious for having people arrested just to provide slave labor. China still does this. We are not China nor should we strive to become China.

How is slave labor an incentive for the jurors?

 

[techs]

Shouldn't the thread title be " Innocent Man Forced to Work in Jail Sues Under Anti-Slavery Amendment"?

 

[Pr0d1gy]

I believe it should be a requirement of one in prison to have a job and pay taxes in order to pay back and contribute back into society for what they took. Not slavery mind you, but there's absolutely no reason work can't be used as rehabilitation and there really is no reason for them no to work unless they're just worthless piles of shit who wish to give nothing back to the rest of us. At which point we should just kill them because they're obviously defective.

Bullshit, then what is to stop them from arresting everyone and making us all work for 25 cents an hour? This guy was a grad student and should never have been in the prison, much less working on the chain gang. Work in jails should be reserved for long term inmates and prisoners CONVICTED of crimes.

It's not like our legal system is actually just or anything:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBiJB8YuDBQ&feature=related

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

What was that saying on the nazi death camp? something about freedom and working?

Arbeit macht frei

 

[Smoblikat]

I have to agree as well.

Just because someone commits a crime does not mean they can be used as slave labor.

But then again, if I tell my daughter to wash the clothes, can she use the same argument against me?

No, she has the freedom to stop living under your roof and eating your food. Or if she is under 18 then she has to do what you say.

 

[OCGuy]

I loved my job in the kitchen in jail.....the deputies would only let the 'woods cook for them. So I would sneak a hamburger in the kitchen closet almost every day. Beat the shit out of the freshly slaughtered chicken mystery parts and stale bread that was the norm..

I never considered it slavery.

 

[DucatiMonster696]

NVM........Looks like he wasn't convicted and the courts are right in distinguishing between pretrial defendants and convicted prisoners.

 

[woolfe9999]

techs: It is beyond naive to take the allegations of pro se prisoner lawsuits as true-probably one in 10,000 or less have any merit at all. Get back to us after the case has gone through full trial.

Yeah that is very true. Inmates file nuisance claims all the time because they have lots of time on their hands and love to harass the system that locked them up. However, there is a different wrinkle to this one: namely, that the charges against him were dropped and he was set free long before filing suit.

 

[cybrsage]

btw Jail usually refers to a local jail where people serve sentences up to a year or are awaiting trial. Prison is for people who are convicted of crimes and sentenced to over a year.

Most people think the two are the same thing. The TV show Jail explains the difference at the start of each show. It is a good show, quite entertaining. It is like Cops, only what happens after the arrest.