a couple yrs ago while driving 45 thru Huntsville,Tx, I pointed out to my son what was happening in plain sight. It really looked like slavery 200 yrs ago. There were a few overseerers (guards) on horseback with guns and numerous prisoners outside the fence but still on state land, I think they were either picking their own crops or weeding the garden. BUT, after that one prisoner escaped & killed that female guard in the process I haven’t seen them outside the walls since.
That woman guard was killed, because a co-worker got stupid. That co-worker was withing 50 feet of a inmate with a gun. (Which is against the rules.) The inmate got the gun and shot the female guard.
Would you rather that they be inside lifting weights and watching cable, or working to grow their own food or grow food that will be sold to help pay the prison expenses?
Yes, it is in plain sight because there isn't a damn thing wrong with it. Perhaps another thug will see the work detail and decide that it is not for him.
I hope your son saw it for the good it was.