When it comes to requiring prisoners to work, the issue is whether people imprisoned have a responsibility to the extent possible to contribute to their support. I don't think that is an unreasonable expectation, but then working, those prisoners should receive the same protections as other workers and compensation (even if the cost of their support is deducted from their wages...

I am a strong supporter of mandatory skill training for prisoners that have no visible means of support once they are paroled. With freedom comes responsibility and, in our society, you have to be able to contribute to society or you will feel compelled to steal from it.

I have met numerous individuals in my past who were in prison and working. Our maintenance man at my father's company was released during the day to work and then imprisoned at night and over the weekend. It helped him earn money for his family and contribute to society.

I worked in a criminally insane unit in college as an aide. The inmates were upset when the state ended the practice of inmates working for $1 an hour (in the 70s), due to protests that it amounted to slavery. The work had been "voluntary" (mostly "farm work"), but it provided the inmates enough income for candy and cigarettes and got them outside in the fresh air rather than locked up all day. Frankly, I think letting inmate work costs more than not letting them work, but it made for a happier inmate population.

I have also spoken with Georgia "chain gang" workers. They used to be "employed" by the public golf course I played at in Georgia. Once a month around 20 prisoners and 2 guards went through the course picking up litter. They were not forced to work but volunteered to get out and earn a few bucks.

I think the parameters for prisoners working come across above. First, they should be compensated, and the safety conditions should be the same.

Slavery and bigotry

Regarding Booth. My point was not to confuse slavery with racism. There were and are plenty of bigots in the world and those bigots are prepared to abuse people of other ethnicities. Look at the white people in the Bosnian war that raped and killed other white people based on religion and ethnicity. Racism is a form of bigotry. Bigotry is a form of tribalism, and it is one reason I find today's emphasis on identity politics as dangerous.

Slavery was an institution based on economics and not skin color, hence there were African American and Native American slaveowners.

When white people in the South outlawed white slavery years before all other slavery was outlawed in the US (a robust white slave trade continued in other parts of the world). In fact, it was pretty common for the local dominant "tribal group" to outlaw slavery of their group even if it did not extend to everyone of their race.

I say bigotry and slavery overlapped, because outlawing slavery of whites reflects the belief that at some level slavery is wrong, but not extending it to all people shows bigotry (the belief that one group is superior to others). The bigotry of the time was extended to other "tribal groups" including Asians on the west coast, Native Americans whose where denied their land since they were deemed "savages" and thus subhuman, and even Irish Catholics. In that sense, it was bigotry more than racism (though there were clearly racists among all the bigots).

Most "white people" today are either descended from people that never owned slaves, never condoned slavery, or simply have no ancestors that lived in the US during the time slavery was present. So, it is hard to suggest they 'inherited" some predisposition to "white supremacy" based on the history of slavery in this country. Instead at some level bigotry and racism are natural among all humans as perverted from of tribalism.

That is why bigotry is a problem, and it comes in every color and ethnicity. When it involves a white person and their view towards people of African descent, it is fair to call it "white supremacy", but it is unfair to project that term on all white people. And in fact, nearly every ethnicity has members that project bigotry towards other groups. In that sense, within every ethnicity there are "supremacists".

So, by confusing slavery with racism, we seem to excuse bigotry if it does not involve white people. My African American grandson says black people can't be racist, I asked him about the beliefs of the Nation of Islam or some of things Kanye West has recently said. He responded that according to the "regime" (his term for the people he believes are in power in Washington), it is okay to be a bigot as long as you are a black person. That is what children are learning in school.

I personally believe that best way to combat bigotry is teach MLK's concept of "one America" and not a "rainbow" America. As long as we identify ourselves based on ethnicity, religion and skin color, we will forever be dealing with racism and bigotry (even if institutional slavery has been abolished for more than 160 years).