Voting and Prison Slavery

drug war . ^ | Ray LaGard

[freepatriot32]

"Vote" by Anthony Papa
(http://www.15yearstolife.com)

In the early 1980s I was permitted to enter the Washington, DC Jail and Lorton Federal Prison, to register inmates and prisoners to vote. At that time:

1. Jail inmates not convicted were eligible to both register and vote;

2. Prisoners convicted of a crime, but had not exhausted their appeal remedies were also eligible to register and to vote;

3. However, prisoners convicted, and who had exhausted their appeal remedies were not eligible to register or vote;

4. Also, the moment a prisoner was released from DC prisons and stepped outside, they were eligible to register to vote.

With their final convictions, their status changed from citizen to slave -- they became and continue to become "slaves of the state" wherein their basic citizenship rights (voting, etc.), labor and human rights were and are presently denied. They could and presently can be forced and/or coerced to labor whether they are paid or not. Voting rights for prisoners and exprisoners vary from state to state.

[Please note that in 2000, thousands of black voters in Florida were denied the right to vote because of alleged convictions. The election was criminally stolen by the BushNazi's with one of many old/new prison slavery laws.]

Static vs. Cumulative Prison Population

I noticed, on a daily basis, large numbers of men, women, and children being herded into the DC jail like cattle; and smaller numbers going out. In and out, each day. So, we did a study on the Annual Cumulative Incarcerated Population of the United States counting (and estimating when specific data was not available) daily, weekly, monthly totals of humans coming and going. This cumulative count of human property over a one year time period greatly increased the total annual population of people who were or had been incarcerated for any time period during that year, even if overnight. The recent study by the Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics shows the static population, not the cumulative total count. And, the reality is that the Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics knows the vast difference between static and cumulative prisoner/inmate populations. I told them about this cumulative count study, used several of their large data manuals, and -- surprisingly to me -- they already knew.

The question is, What are they trying to hide? How would the general public respond if they knew the static incarcerated population had risen from 1.4 million to 2.1 million in one year? Or, how would the general public respond if they knew the cumulative population grew from 10 million citizens to 15 million in one year -- those who go into incarceration and stay, or into incarceration and are released?

Each prison receives daily city, county, state, and federal funds per prisoner/ inmate services provided. That's why they take count two or three times daily.

New and Old Prison Slave Laws

Concerning the various and relatively new laws designed to increase prison slave populations -- the laws might be new, however, the tactic definitely goes back to post-13th-Amendment, wherein each state had to submit, and enact, compatible state constitutional amendments providing for slavery and/or involuntary servitude as a punishment for crime. Before the 13th Amendment, old chattel slave states' jail and prison populations were overwhelmingly poor white. (Note: Several states, mostly from the old northwest territory, already had prison slavery provisos within their various state constitutions, years before the final wording of the Thirteenth Amendment. In fact, the old Northwest Territory Ordinances of 1781 and 1787 were basically copied into the Thirteenth Amendment, and strongly opposed by Abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner.

With 1865's newly-enacted EXCEPTION for slavery -- as a punishment for crime -- multiple new laws such as the picking of fruit (from a tree), and the convict lease system resulted in the recapture of newly emancipated freedmen to increase the population subjected to this expanded form of slavery. Many newly-emancipated slaves were recaptured, this time forced into prison slavery, and they were initially leased back to local plantations, businesses, mines, swamps, timber, and other hard and dangerous businesses for the extremely brutal exploitation of their labor. Before 1865 the majority of prison slaves were white, while blacks were predominately chattel slaves. Records show few black chattel slaves being incarcerated before 1865, because to do so would deprive the master of the labor from his human property.

One point here is that the "peculiar institution of slavery" continues to have a variety of periodic new laws specifically designed to increase that exploited population that is owned, possessed or controlled, forced and/or coerced to labor whether s/he is paid or not. Those tactical laws are designed to support the Institution of prison slavery. The Slaveocracy creates the problem, then provides the solution -- more slavery for punishment of more crimes, costing even more tax dollars, and injuring both victims and offenders.

The only way to force, coerce, control, possess, or own another human being is to remove citizenship, labor and human rights. Greek slaves did not have the right to vote, chattel slaves didn't either, and neither do present day prison slaves. The right to vote, and other citizenship rights have been taken away "as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted".

So, the new imprisonment (slave catching) laws definitely need to be confronted as the main factor causing the explosion of growth in the US prison population. While it is exceedingly important to confront each and every tactic used in the "peculiar institution of slavery", it is equally important to recognize the structure and dynamics of the institution, the historic and the modern material reality of slavery as a punishment for crime; slavery as a class status, the economics of slavery as 'spoils of war', chattel slavery; and modern slavery for minorities, tribes, women and children nationally and internationally.

US and International Emancipation

The abolition of the "in-your-face" Constitutionally enshrined "slavery ... as a punishment for crime" would greatly weaken the chains that bind the world's slave populations, leading to a rapid international emancipation from this subordinate class status, which is currently being forced 99.99% of the time upon poor people.

-----

Ray LaGard (PrisonSlav@aol.com) is an activist whose history in activism "goes back to the 1960s civil rights struggle, anti war, education, community organizing, to the old Committee to Abolish Prison Slavery, and the Inalienable Rights Institute."

[freepatriot32]

ping

[MrLeRoy]

The election was criminally stolen by the BushNazi's

Hogwash.

[cardinal4]

Lorton was the DC Prison located in Northern Virginia. It was not a Federal Pen.

[ZviTheWise]

The "BushNazi" comment is a stupid slap in the face. But the author does make some good points, espeically on the 13th amendment, which in truth didn't ban slavery -- it just made it a government monopoly.

[sticker]

Notice this jerk doesn't say anything about gore trying to keep the military votes from being counted. I guess the only people the left thinks should be allowed to vote are those will only vote democRAT

[cyn]

It is all about expanding the electorate for the advantage of the left -- their own words: http://dsausa.org/dl/DLSummer2003.pdf

[aimhigh]

It just ain't that tough to obey the law.

[azhenfud]

Countdown to thread being pulled?

[LittleJoe]

Don't know how true this is, heard it on a radio talk show when Clinton was still in office...

The dems stopped their push to register ex-cons when they found out they were voting Republican.

[marron]

The nature of democratic rule is that we give up a portion of our personal sovereignty to our neighbors based on "majority rules". This surrender of sovereignty, however, is limited by the fact that we do not agree to give it up to just anyone. We, at least traditionally, do not give it up to people we don't consider our countrymen.

Thus people living outside our borders do not vote, and people within our borders who haven't been here long enough for us to consider them as fellow countrymen do not vote either.

People who have by their behavior declared war on us we don't allow to have sovereignty over us either. The very thought has no sense to it. If someone's behavior places him at war with us to such a degree that we must restrain him, we are not going to willingly place ourselves under his authority, not even the watered down authority of a vote. If we were willing to submit to such an individual, if we were willing to acknowledge him as an equal citizen he would not be in prison.

To register prison inmates as voters may be legal in some jurisdictions, but it is illogical and it is a crime against the rest of us, who have already been victimized by the inmates crime and now we must share power with him. I do not agree to give him power over me. I agree to lock him up where he can't get at me or anyone else.