Georgia Prison Strike Against Slavery

The Georgia Prison Strike brings up some interesting issues concerning "slavery," both antebellum chattel slavery and modern incarceration or "New Age slavery." Here are some relative advantages and disadvantages of these two types of involuntary servitude, evaluated with reference to each demand of the striking Georgia prisoners:

"A LIVING WAGE FOR WORK: In violation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution prohibiting slavery and involuntary servitude, the DOC demands prisoners work for free."

Georgia prisoners and their supporters interpret the law incorrectly. The 13th Amendment allows the imposition of "involuntary servitude" on those duly convicted of crimes. This necessarily means payment is not required, and that's how the courts have interpreted the 13th Amendment. Prisoners must work and serve involuntarily - whether they like it or not. Some state and federal statutes nevertheless provide for payment. Slaves lived in a cashless economy for the most part, but could usually earn money, bonuses or rewards on their own. Slaves consumed about 88% of their own economic production.

"EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES: For the great majority of prisoners, the DOC denies all opportunities for education beyond the GED, despite the benefit to both prisoners and society."

The GED-level education provided to prisoners is better than what antebellum slaves had. Education in prison is one of the few things most prisons do right.

"DECENT HEALTH CARE: In violation of the 8th Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments, the DOC denies adequate medical care to prisoners, charges excessive fees for the most minimal care and is responsible for extraordinary pain and suffering."

In this regard, slaves had it better, in relative terms, compared to modern prisoners. Slaves had the best medical care for their times. In fact, the same doctor treated whites and blacks on the plantation - but slaves were not bled, so slaves in some cases had better medical care than their owners.

"AN END TO CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENTS: In further violation of the 8th Amendment, the DOC is responsible for cruel prisoner punishments for minor infractions of rules."

While slaves were punished with whips, this was for disciplinary reasons, most often conducted rationally, and corporal punishment did not take them away from their family, friends, community, churches and employment. Solitary confinement is worse than corporal punishment according to Nelson Mandela. Corporal punishment generally helped turn slaves into hard-working, polite, productive and non-violent members of society. Prison is an expensive way to make bad people worse.

"DECENT LIVING CONDITIONS: Georgia prisoners are confined in over-crowded, substandard conditions, with little heat in winter and oppressive heat in summer."

Slaves did not have air conditioning, but neither did their masters. Slaves enjoyed rural terrain and were not physically confined like prisoners are today. Most American prisoners would prefer the living conditions of antebellum slaves, especially as to the balanced sex ratio, holidays, physical conditioning and moral environment. Slaves were too valuable as workers to incarcerate.

"NUTRITIONAL MEALS: Vegetables and fruit are in short supply in DOC facilities while starches and fatty foods are plentiful."

This is about a tie between the two slave systems. On better or more productive plantations, a wide variety of fruits and vegetables was grown and made available to slaves. Prison diets are designed to provide all the basic nutritional requirements, just as most plantations provided to their slaves.

"VOCATIONAL AND SELF-IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES: The DOC has stripped its facilities of all opportunities for skills training, self-improvement and proper exercise."

Slave plantations had opportunities for skills training, vocational self-improvement within the system of slave labor and definitely provided proper exercise. Slaveholders regularly taught or allowed their slaves to develop useful skills such as blacksmithing, carpentry, logging, textile weaving and sewing, farming, animal husbandry and different types of manufacturing. Based on the prisoner demands, slaves had much better vocational opportunities than Georgia prisoners, which paid off in 1865 and also while they were enslaved.

"ACCESS TO FAMILIES: The DOC has disconnected thousands of prisoners from their families by imposing excessive telephone charges and innumerable barriers to visitation."

Slaves had better access to their families than prisoners, the exception being when slave families were broken up. Every modern prisoner is separated from his or her family, though the separation still allows limited visits. The average slave never left his or her spouse or young children. Many plantations consisted of slaves who were related to each other. Prisoners have unlimited access to families after their sentence is over, but incarceration erodes or destroys family ties.

"JUST PAROLE DECISIONS: The Parole Board capriciously and regularly denies parole to the majority of prisoners despite evidence of eligibility."

The Parole Board grants more releases on parole than masters granted manumission... although by 1865 all slaves were freed from chattel slavery.

All things considered, including different times in history, slaves lived better than Georgia prisoners. But change cannot be made by the Georgia Department of Corrections alone. A thorough restructuring of federal and state laws must precede meaningful prison reform. Our prison systems, if they were freed from legal restraints imposed by Congress and many states, could create thriving industries behind bars and markedly improve prison conditions in most of the ways sought by Georgia prisoners today.