this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2025
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Ye Power Trippin' Bastards

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This is a community in the spirit of "Am I The Asshole" where people can post their own bans from lemmy or reddit or whatever and get some feedback from others whether the ban was justified or not.

Sometimes one just wants to be able to challenge the arguments some mod made and this could be the place for that.

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Expect to receive feedback about your posts, they might even be negative.

Make sure you follow this instance's code of conduct. In other words we won't allow bellyaching about being sanctioned for hate speech or bigotry.


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[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 18 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (2 children)

Prisoners can be forced to work in the US, to my knowledge.

Penal labor is permitted under the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits slavery except as a punishment for a crime where the individual has been convicted.[1] The courts have held that detainees awaiting trial cannot be forced to work.[14] However, convicted criminals who are medically able to work are typically required to do so in roles such as food service, warehouse work, plumbing, painting, or as inmate orderlies.[15]According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, inmates earn between 12-40 cents per hour for these jobs, which is below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.[15] There have been proposals of ideas to help incarcerated workers obtain better wages and improved working conditions through unionizing prison labor.

[–] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (2 children)

The user is clearly wrong, but they're wrong in a way that's incredible common among Americans. It's not their fault, exactly, they've been taught to think that slavery is okay from birth. That all said, I don't think their post actually violates the rules and they're clearly open to discussion on the issue.

[–] Nima@leminal.space -1 points 14 hours ago

you had me until "they've been taught to think it's okay from birth."

what a weird, broad generalization.

[–] wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com -5 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

My guy, it simply isn't slavery. These inmates are entirely free to just not do this type of work.

Yes, there is actual slavery in US prisons. There is mandatory labor. It's fucked up.

That said, unless I've missed something critical, this is not one of those situations. They had to choose to apply to the firefighting position.

[–] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 18 hours ago

They're punished if they refuse. It's not a true volunteer system.