California is well known for its costly housing, high end apparel, high class lifestyle, and entertainment industry. It’s also well known for its cultural separation, homelessness, incarceration rates and overall poverty. Unfortunately, it is not well known for the fact that California still depends on involuntary servitude to run the prison system. To put it plainly, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) depends on slavery in order to function at the diminishing capacity in which it currently functions.
The Punishment Clause of the Thirteenth Amendment states: “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.” This single clause supports the fact that slavery and involuntary servitude were not abolished. They are still very much alive and acceptable forms of punishment within the United States. While slavery and involuntary servitude are not written as a punishment within the plea agreement, or any other post-conviction sentencing agreement, inmates are still forced to work with little or no compensation, as well as face the risk of disciplinary actions for failure to report to their job assignments, or failure to complete a task.
CDCR functions primarily on involuntary servitude and slavery due to it being cost effective, with the added benefit of it being easy to justify punishing an incarcerated individual that refuses to perform the duties of their assignment simply because there is no protection for an enslaved population. It is literally written in the Thirteenth Amendment of the American Constitution that slavery and involuntary servitude are acceptable forms of punishment for committing a crime, yet the incarcerated individual is not sentenced to a term of slavery, they are sentenced to a length of time within a rehabilitation facility that chooses to enforce slavery as an additional form of punishment.
The funny thing about rehabilitation is that it’s expected to take an individual with distorted thinking, and reprogram the way they think, the way they behave, and the way they respond to stressful situations so that the individual in question can become a contributing member of society. So what happens when you take an individual with distorted thinking, and you put them in an environment where their identity is stripped from them as they’re objectified, dehumanized, and forced to work in a toxic environment for next to nothing other than the threat of progressive discipline? Those individuals are likely to lose all forms of self-worth, self-respect, and autonomy, which is not the recipe for a contributing member of society; instead, it’s the recipe for a repeat offender.
Let’s put this into a clearer perspective, if an individual is objectified, dehumanized, stripped of autonomy, self-worth, and self-respect while being forced to perform a task that they have no interest in performing, what will become of that individual? What motivation does that individual have to conform to the social standards set forth by their prospective community? These are questions that every individual should ask themselves when considering the consequences of slavery and involuntary servitude. Unfortunately, within a capitalistic society, the logical answer to these questions are often overshadowed by the prospect of monetary gain due to the fact that the labor force within CDCR cannot function without the use of slavery or involuntary servitude.
Consider this “hypothetical” scenario, a state department tracks down and collects individuals (oftentimes uneducated) that break the law and go against the grain of social norms. Rather than teaching these individuals how and why they should follow the laws and social norms, these individuals are stripped of their identity, dehumanized, forced into slavery, and forced to follow rules blindly underneath the risk of further discipline. Now let’s make matters worse, let’s take those same individuals and after many years of living in these conditions, put them back in society—but this time, let’s put them in unfamiliar territory and with little or no guidance. After considering this “hypothetical” scenario, let’s expose that it’s not hypothetical at all; instead, it was the common practice of the California Department of Corrections (CDC) prior to adopting the promise of rehabilitation for the sake of continued funding.
CDCR has made some investments into the rehabilitation aspect of the department, yet the basic principles remain the same. Upon incarceration the individual is henceforth identified as a number or as “inmate” (loss of identity). They are herded around like cattle and forced to perform demeaning tasks (dehumanization). They’re forced to work for next to nothing and failure to complete the task of the assigned position results in progressive disciplinary action, loss of privileges and more (slavery and involuntary servitude). How can these individuals be expected to become contributing members of society when the institution responsible for rehabilitating them is only reinforcing a dehumanizing environment? The only way to accomplish the goal of rehabilitation is by educating the population, both incarcerated and non-incarcerated. For example, many people don’t realize, or simply fail to acknowledge the extent to which the incarcerated firefighters have impacted California, or the extent to which the incarcerated college students have been reaching out to assist local organizations.
At this very moment, incarcerated firefighters from across the state of California, both men and women of various sociological backgrounds, are going through vigorous and extensive training for the opportunity to fight the California wildfires side by side with the local fire departments. This program allows a portion of the incarcerated population the ability to volunteer and put their life on the line for the sake of earning time off their sentence while continuing to earn less than a survivable hourly wage. Regardless of the incarcerated status of a firefighter, the job is still dangerous, unpredictable, and requires a high level of skill, dedication, and the understanding that each fire could be their last. What’s interesting about this is that the incarcerated firefighter is currently unable to get a job as a non-incarcerated firefighter upon release due to their unsealed criminal record. While they’re able to risk their life as an “inmate,” upon release they’re unable to achieve meaningful employment in a field they’re trained in because of their past mistake. This brings many incarcerated individuals back to square one, with one possible chance of redemption through gaining a meaningful education.
The education system here at Valley State Prison (VSP) has and continues to change the lives of many people. While incarcerated individuals are still forced into work assignments, there are a few post-secondary educational programs that contribute greatly to the rehabilitative efforts at this prison. The college programs, for example, are not a significant source of revenue for the prison system and the professors that provide in-person instruction do so as volunteers of the Rising Scholars Foundation through Merced Community College or the California State University, Fresno program.
Despite the challenges that the incarcerated population faces as far as overcoming dehumanization, accepting slavery as their reality, or finding a purpose in life, more than 125 incarcerated students have found their way to the Merced Community College, Alpha Gamma Sigma (AGS) honor society. Through this program, they have used their available time, dedication, and creativity to volunteer to improve the lives of anyone that could benefit. Recently, the AGS honor society came together and raised enough funds to donate over $2,000 to the Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention program and the Basic Needs Food Pantry. Through these efforts they have shown us that, while it seems as though the majority of society has given up on the incarcerated population, the incarcerated population has not given up on society.
The following was inspired by the challenge of overcoming emotional instability and mental health complications.
Seasons have come and gone, yet still I dream.
The life for a life is an expected deal,
though the emptiness behind bars is a lonely theme.
Miles away from what can help to heal,
forever stuck in a realm of sadness,
memories of the past are only haunting,
keeping me stuck, descending into madness.
Climbing from these depths, is more than daunting
with an enemy that’s positioned within my mind.
At the finish line with the dead walking,
searching for something with no help to find.
Staying out of sight from deaths stalking,
hoping for a way to start the healing,
scared to move, so I avoid all feelings.
